No Catalan or academy player in the starting XI vs Celta
It has been 16 years since there was no academy player in a line-up for a competitive game
A lot has changed at Barcelona in the last few years. Only time will tell if it's for better or worse, but it's evident that there has been a huge transformation, as Ernesto Valverde's starting line-up against Celta Vigo showed perfectly.
Barça lined up with the following team:
Ter Stegen, Semedo, Mina, Vermaelen, Digne; Andre Gomes, Paulinho, Denis Suarez; Dembele, Alcacer and Coutinho.
In case you hadn't noticed, that's a team without a single academy player and without a single Catalan player, and only two Spanish players (Denis and Alcacer). The other nine are foreign players. Of course, this is a very unusual line-up, conditioned by the great advantage Barcelona have in the La Liga title race and the fact they are playing in the Copa del Rey final against Sevilla on Saturday.
However, as we said, many things have changed. Many things have changed since Louis van Gaal said that his dream was to make Barcelona champions of Europe with a team of 11 academy players. Or more recently, when Tito Vilanova's side beat Levante 4-0 with 11 academy players on the pitch.
Catalunya Radio reported that this is the first time in 16 years that Barça played a competitive game without a single academy player in the line-up. The last time was on 6 April 2002, when Barça played against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames when Carles Rexach was in charge, winning 2-0.
The starting line-up that day was: Bonano, Reiziger, Christanval, Abelardo, Coco; Cocu, Rochemback, Luis Enrique; Rivaldo, Overmars and Saviola
