Story of the day: Barca U18 win league title on last day with 14 players missing due to Covid-19, learn news via Internet

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Story of the day: Barca U18 win league title on last day with 14 players missing due to Covid-19, learn news via Internet

Thursday has been a truly spectacular day for Barcelona's Juvenil A team (U18). The young Catalans were set to play Cerdanyola in the last match of the season. They needed a win and for rivals Espanyol — who were 1st in the league table — to draw or lose vs Gimnastic de Tarragona.

At first, it didn't look like luck was on Barca's side, as 14 players from the U18 team had been sidelined due to COVID-19.

The team had only 8 players available and needed to summon players from Juvenil B, their reserve squad, to be able to play the match. Moreover, Peque and Alejandro Balde — who played for Barca B during the season but are assigned to Juvenil A — had to be called back from their vacation to play the game.

In the end, Juvenil A ended up winning the match 3-1 thanks to goals from Josep Cerda, Luzzi and Frank.

Their rivals were playing their match simultaneously, and as Barca finished their game, nine more minutes were added to the Espanyol clash, with the score being 1-1. Glued to the phone, the Blaugrana players and coaching staff were watching the match in hope that Espanyol don't score another goal as it would make them champions.

Nine minutes (that must've felt like an eternity for the players) eventually expired, and Blaugrana were crowned champions. You can enjoy their reaction to the news here.

The match was also an important one for their coach Sergi Mila, as he's set to leave the club this summer.

RELATED NEWS

Barca B to finally face Real Madrid B after 7 years – their head-to-head record is exciting

Both Barcelona B and Real Madrid Castilla will play Primera RFEF football next season – this is the analogue of the Segunda B division they played in last term.

What's more exciting is that the teams will face each other twice next season – these will be their first head-to-head clashes since 2014.

Let's take a look at their H2H record.

Real Madrid Castilla: 14 wins, 48 goals scored

Draws: 6

Barcelona B: 11 wins, 52 goals scored

The Catalans also secured the biggest win over the Whites – 4-0 in 1985. Castilla's biggest win is 3-0 in 1984.

3 unexpected Barca players far from main squad who could give Koeman options next season

In this tough transitional period, we need different players to perform. Despite the number of fresh signings secured, it's quite possible that we'll see some new players gain momentum next season.

Let's think about three players who could all of a sudden impress us next term.

Miralem Pjanic

What if? The defensive midfield is still one of our most problematic positions as we have no available players to cover for Sergio Busquets, except for Pjanic.

The 31-year-old hasn't really impressed us last season but his experience is always there and the Bosnian's output could skyrocket at any time if he's given chances.

Alex Collado

The youngster already made his first-team debut under Ernesto Valverde and is close to being part of Barca's pre-season again.

The attacking midfielder scored 8 goals and provided 3 assists in 22 games for Barca B last season, finding the net from free kicks 4 times.

Collado is the team's most expensive player (€5m), the captain who almost led his side to the Segunda promotion. He should definitely get his chances next season.

Inaki Pena

The youngster has recently made the headlines, saving 4 penalty shots in a penalty shootout for Barcelona B.

With Neto set to leave the club, the 22-year-old could even make a few appearances between the sticks for the first team. It's worth a mention that Marc-Andre ter Stegen has undergone surgery and might even miss the season's start.

AuthorDumitru P.SourceFCBMasia @ Twitter
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