The good and the bad: Pedri doubles Pjanic's Barcelona minutes

Results aside, Barcelona's season must serve to consolidate some of the pieces that will be key to the club in the next decade. One of them is, without a doubt, Pedri. The Canary Islander has been an unexpected surprise this season with his performances wowing the world despite being just 18 years old. From now until the end of the season, whatever happens in the three competitions Barça are still in, Koeman's mission is to create an ecosystem so that the young talent continues to progress. Not just Pedri, but also Araujo, Dest, Riqui Puig, Ansu, Ilaix, Trincao and Co.

The reality is that the great news surrounding Pedri's premature eruption contrasts with some disappointment: Miralem Pjanic. In fact, at the start of the summer, when it was still in the air if Pedri would feature for the first team, the normal line of thinking would have suggested that Pjanic would have a bigger role. But what is actually true is that if Pedri's the good news story, then Pjanic is the bad news.

Pedri has played 34 of Barça's 35 matches this season, only sitting out the Champions League match in Hungary against Ferencvaros. The teenager has not been injured at all and has played 2,200 minutes, just 600 fewer -- around seven complete games -- than he registered last season when he was the most used outfield player by Pepe Mel at Las Palmas.

Only Frenkie de Jong, with 2,875 minutes, has played more than the Spain U21 international. In fact, Pedri has played more than Sergio Busquets (2,070) and double Pjanic (1,180).

Pedri has taken his place in the midfielder with an overwhelming forcefulness and, in the coming weeks, it's likely that he's called up for Spain's senior squad by Luis Enrique for the March internationals. His presence at the European Championships this summer is still unknown but everything suggests he will be among those called up for the delayed tournament.

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