The Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys stood up. After 11 months since the injury to the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus of the right knee. After 336 days without playing, and 348 without wearing the Barça shirt, Gavi returned. The audience applauded and chanted his name from the moment he came out to warm up. He was smiling, moving nervously and eager to step onto the grass. And he did it in a special way, coming on for Pedri, who offered him the captain’s armband. “I am very happy to be back with the team after so long. I have been dreaming about this moment for many months. I have missed playing football. It’s my life. The worst thing is seeing your team from the outside, it’s hard. I am very grateful to everyone because they have made it much easier for me. I feel very lucky,” Gavi confessed after the match against Sevilla. “Gavi is very great, very hardworking. We see how much people love him, and so do we. “I am very happy,” Pedri added. And Jules Koundé also had words for him: “He is the soul of the team.” For Hansi Flick, the most exciting thing was the “atmosphere” that was generated with his departure.
Gavi returned in the second half, in the 83rd minute, with the match sentenced and leveled by the three goals of Pedri and Lewandowskithe magician and the striker, who is experiencing a magical moment. The goal is on Barcelona’s side this season. This is Barcelona’s best scoring start (33 goals) in the first 10 games of a domestic competition season since the 2008-2009 season (34). And also the third consecutive match arriving at half-time with a three-goal advantage on the scoreboard, although this time not without being able to avoid leaving a clean sheet. “When we play like this, we need to put high pressure on the ball and this makes us have to be more attentive behind our backs. I don’t like having conceded a goal, we will analyze it and do better,” Flick added.
Although who has the domain and the empire of targets is Robert Lewandowski. After the hat-trick against Alavés and the double against Young Boys in the Champions League, the 36-year-old Pole scored two goals against Sevilla. He doesn’t rest. “It is important that Lewandowski scores goals, and above all that he is connected with his teammates,” Flick explained. In total, 14 goals throughout the season, and 12 in the league, which credits him as the first to achieve this in the initial 10 league games since Leo Messi in the 2012-2013 season, also with 12 goals.
Pedri accompanied him with a great goal from outside the area. It is his third goal this season, and he had not scored from so far since the 2021-22 season. Always dogged by injuries – nine in the last three campaigns – although physically reinforced this year, Pedri’s magic has returned: seven recoveries, 70 passes and three opportunities created in 83 minutes. With the match decided, Flick rested a large part of the starters to make way for returns – such as Gavi or Fermín – and rotations. “What we have done has been spectacular. Scoring the first goals has been very important to know how to measure what is coming,” said Iñaki Peña.
In Montjuïc, everything was perfect. “It was very important to come back from the break with a victory and the team has done a very good job,” shared Flick. “[Los tres puntos] “They are very important for the upcoming games,” Pedri assured. Ahead, a complicated week; on Wednesday against Bayern, on Saturday against Real Madrid. But at the Estadi Olímpic, the fans applauded the goals, the three points, the confidence and self-esteem and, above all, the comebacks.
