The Youth Thread | Even our kids win trebles | Barça B in La Segunda & other Blaugrana Kids

Barca youth CL finally drops points as a late Sporting goal equalized, Sporting still advances though (albeit to a play in game I think), Barca had already secured winning their group.
http://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2017/12/05/5a26c8b346163fe3148b466a.html

More info here:
In the expanded UEFA Youth League, the Under-19 teams of the UEFA Champions League entrants will be joined by the youth domestic champions of 32 nations.

UEFA Champions League path
The 32 clubs entering via the UEFA Champions League will compete in groups with the indentical make-up and fixture list as for the senior competition. The eight group winners will progress straight to the round of 16 (this includes Barcelona, Basel, Bayern, Chelsea, Liverpool, City, and 2 more to be determined tomorrow) while the eight runners-up will go into the play-offs (Man U, PSG, Atletico, Sporting, 4 others).

Domestic Champions path
The 32 teams will compete in two knockout rounds of home-and-away ties to produce eight survivors, who will progress to the play-offs.

Play-offs
The eight Domestic Champions path survivors will be drawn at home to the eight UEFA Champions League path runners-up in one-off ties to decide the eight remaining round of 16 berths.

Knockout phase and final
The knockout phase, starting with the round of 16 will consist of single-leg ties, meaning a maximum of ten matches for any team, with the semi-finals and final played in the form of a final tournament at the Colovray stadium, Nyon, Switzerland. There will be no third-place play-off game

 

Today's games are complete in Youth CL, Barca and 7 other clubs get to wait while the 8 second place CL teams take on the 8 winners from the domestic champions path. Both Madrids need to win playoffs to make final 16, Sevilla already eliminated in 3rd place.

Through to last 16: Barcelona, Basel, Bayern München, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Porto, Tottenham Hotspur

Through to play-offs: Ajax*, Atlético Madrid, Brodarac*, Feyenoord, Internazionale Milano*, Krasnodar*, Manchester United, Molde*, Monaco, Nitra*, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Salzburg (holders)*, Spartak Moskva, Sporting CP, Željezničar* *from Domestic Champions path

 

Three youth things to note: 1) Barca B are closer to relegation than promotion (not that they can be promoted), so may also be looking in the transfer window for a mid (they have a starter out injured) and/or a forward, as they want to stay in Segunda where the playing experience is more relevant to making a leap to the first team.

There is a "promises" international tournament on right now Under 14 and Barca beat Roma today to advance to the quarterfinals behind a hat trick from #10 Cristobal Munoz, who then scored the only goal against Juve not sure which other teams are left.

The UEFA Youth CL, Barca is already in the final 16, but other clubs have a win or go home game to play first:
The UEFA Youth League play-off draw has paired holders Salzburg with Sporting CP, and Ajax with Paris Saint-Germain, while Real Madrid have been sent to Krasnodar and competition top scorer Ivan Ignatyev, who managed ten goals in four domestic champions path matches.

Play-off draw (ties 6/7 February)
Molde (NOR) v Monaco (FRA)
Internazionale Milano (ITA) v Spartak Moskva (RUS)
Ajax (NED) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Salzburg (AUT, holders) v Sporting CP (POR)
Brodarac (SRB) v Manchester United (ENG)
Nitra (SVK) v Feyenoord (NED)
Željezničar (BIH) v Atlético Madrid (ESP)
Krasnodar (RUS) v Real Madrid (ESP)

Knockout phase
• The eight play-off winners join the eight UEFA Champions League path group winners in the round of 16, with the draw for the remainder of the competition on 9 February.

Group winners: Barcelona (ESP), Basel (SUI), Bayern München (GER), Chelsea (ENG), Liverpool (ENG), Manchester City (ENG), Porto (POR), Tottenham Hotspur (ENG). I think each of these group winners will host the next round against the survivors of the playoffs as all legs are win or go home, no home and away legs, quarterfinal hosted by luck of draw, semi and final both in neutral Nyon.

Calendar: road to Nyon
Play-offs: 6/7 February
Knockout draw: 9 February
Round of 16: 20/21 February
Quarter-finals: 13/14 March
Semi-finals: 20 April (Nyon)
Final: 23 April (Nyon)

 

Barca won the Promises U13 aka Infantil B tournament, after beating Roma and Juve yesterday (3-0 and 1-0), they beat Atletico in semis (2-0 goals by Hernandez and Balde), then Valencia in final Hernandez scores the late goal assisted by Balde for the 1-0 win.

 

Huge 1-3 road win for Barca B today with a hat trick by winger Carles Perez showing them the way. They are still flirting with the relegation side of things but this gets them to 4th from the bottom and is a good sign. They really need to stay in Segunda or it is harder to make the leap from Barca B to first team.

Actually, unlike La Liga, in Segunda the 4th from the bottom goes down too, so they need another 3 points to get into 5th from bottom. That's one reason they have been looking in the January window themselves.

 

I posted this in transfer news but it is worth repeating here:
Ballou transfer confirmed, to Barca B, will hopefully help Barca B stay up in Segunda and may also one day make the big club too, time will tell on both fronts:
http://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-t...ntreal-impact-teenager-ballou-jean-yves-tabla

It's been a busy month for Barca B, with Ballou (MID) becoming their fourth winter signing after the arrivals of Martin Hongla (CB-DM), Christian Rivera (DM) and Nahuel (WINGER).

Adding more links: https://www.football-espana.net/69528/nahuel-joins-barca-b
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristian_Rivera_Hernández
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Hongla

What is interesting is that all but Ballou were brought in on loans (though often with purchase options), and now 8 players on Barca B are there on loan deals. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Barcelona_B

 

One more signed to Barca B, this time not a loan, and from Arsenal (two big pluses) but Barca B increasingly buying talent comes at a cost, http://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-t...-arsenal-youngster-marcus-mcguane-for-barca-b

"Fighting a relegation battle, they have now signed five players this month -- McGuane follows Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, Martin Hongla, Christian Rivera and Nahuel in -- rather than turning to La Masia.
As a result, talented midfielder Sergio Gomez is on the verge of leaving for Borussia Dortmund, who will pay his €3 million buyout clause, because he feels there are too many obstacles to progression at Barca. Jordi Mboula and Eric Garcia took similar decisions in the summer, leaving for Monaco and Manchester City respectively."

Sergio Gomez (LW 3M to BVB) follows the departures of Mboula (MF summer to Monaco about 3.5M) and Eric Garcia (CB summer to ManC about 2M)
http://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-t...arcelona-to-join-borussia-dortmund-in-3m-deal

On a related note, Kaptoum, formerly seen as a crack of La Masia with real potential to make the first team, has also left but in this case more about injuries and failing to make "the leap" from being a great teenager to being a great adult footballer, moves on to Betis: http://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2018/01/29/5a6f1e0122601ddc108b460d.html

 

Big win for Barca B last weekend. 2-1 in Cordoba.

Although there is a long way to go in the season, looks like 3 teams are destined for relegation: Cordoba, Sevilla B and Lorca. Above that there are 9 teams within 3 points trying to avoid being the 4th team to get relegated, including Barca B.

 

Third straight win suggests they will not be the fourth team relegated but it really is crazy with the 11th team and the 19th team (of 22) separated by just 3 points. They signed 2 new players permanently, and borrowed 4 more on loan this January, which should help them stay up.

However, it also suggests even less opportunity for young cracks from La Masia, when we buy/borrow players for Barca B (and of course for Barca) how can they have faith that they will get opportunities. So we lost another crack to BVB, even as we signed one from Arsenal.

 

true, but if BarcaB gets relegated those opportunities shrink even more as the gap between the regional divisions and Barca's first team is too big (it's already a massive jump just coming up from the second division). so they have to find some kind of balance between keeping the team competitive enough to stay out of the relegation zone, while still working on developing young cracks.

 

Yeah, we definitely want to stay up. But in the past we did it seemingly with players like David Lomban who brought veteran leadership without blocking our cracks (that is he was not seen as someone who might make the first team). Now we seem to be transferring in more younger cracks or potential cracks with purchases or loans with options to buy, and they might actually make the first team. They both help Barca B stay up in Segunda, but the latter is more of a block to the path of our younger La Masia cracks in Juvenal A and even already with Barca B to get meaningful time at Barca B and maybe eventually the first team.

 

Oh crap, first Samper (loaned out but pure La Masia DM) tears his ACL and now the younger DM crack, Oriol Busquets is also out 4-5 months with a knee issue. The upside is that one of our 3 new permanent Barca B signings (in addition to 3 new loanees), McGuane from Arsenal - take that you f'in' Wenger - plays DM too. https://www.sport-english.com/en/ne...squets-injured-and-out-for-the-season-6609417

 

So the playoffs have ended and the Madrids along with PSG, ManU, Monaco (featuring our own Mboula), Inter, and holders Salzburg survived.

The draw for the last 16 of the UEFA Youth League was made on Friday afternoon and it threw up some interesting ties, especially for the Spanish sides still in the competition. Real Madrid drew Bayern Munich and Barcelona were paired with Paris Saint-Germain, with both of those matches taking place away from home. That is a real disadvantage, given that the ties are not two-legged at this stage of the competition. Atletico Madrid did, though get a home game and they will take on Basel. The full draw was as follows, no seeding for the clubs who avoided playoffs, and also no barriers to teams from same country meeting in round of 16 (see Liverpool v ManU):

Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid

Manchester City vs Inter

Atletico Madrid vs Basel

Porto vs Salzburg

PSG vs Barcelona

Liverpool vs Manchester United

Tottenham vs Monaco

Chelsea vs Feyenoord

The matches will take place on February 20 and 21.

The team we face, PSG in Paris, had to go through playoffs due to losing to Bayern in the group stage. Ironically(?), Bayern host Real, who had to do playoffs as they finished 2nd to Tottenham (who host Monaco (who finished 2nd to Porto (who host reigning champs Salzburg - who may have got a free pass to the elimination stage or I'm missing something).

 

Like you first said, they survived the playoffs. Defeated Sporting.

 

Barca beat PSG in Paris in the UEFA Youth CL today, single leg, so we now are in the final 8. Survived a late red card. Awaiting Atletico or Basel. Inter and Man C are tied up at 1-1 in 2nd half right now, other 6 matches get played tomorrow including Real v. Bayern.

A 1-0 victory in Paris saw Barcelona's youth team book their place in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Youth League. The Catalan side were drawn against their PSG counterparts and earned the victory thanks to a 64th minute Carles Perez. It was a deserved victory as Barcelona as they shot 17 times and had five shots on target, whereas PSG had just eight attempts and none on target. Given that the ties at this stage of the competition are just one-legged, this win is enough for the Blaugrana to advance. The winners of Atletico Madrid vs Basel - which takes place on Wednesday - will await Francisco Javier Garcia Pimienta's kids in the next round.

 

UEFA Youth League quarterfinals are set. Barca and Real are the only two away teams to advance to quarterfinals (though two home teams tied and then only prevailed in PKs, ManC over Inter and Tottenham over Monaco and our purloined Mboula). Fortunately, that means we host the quarterfinal vs. Atletico, but then, should we advance we will not be the "home team" in the semis or final. However, semis and final all take place in Nyon so that just means we'll wear our away kit.

QUARTER-FINALS (13/14 March) I moved 1 below 4 so it looks like the actual bracket
2: Man. City v Liverpool
3: Barcelona v Atlético
4: Tottenham v Porto
1: Real Madrid v Chelsea
NYON FINALS: COLOVRAY STADIUM
Semi-finals (20 April)
1: Winner quarter-final 2 (ManC-'pool) v winner quarter-final 3 (Barca-Atletico)
2: Winner quarter-final 1 v winner quarter-final 4
Final (23 April)
Winner semi-final 2 v winner semi-final 1

 

Porto just defeated Tottenham 2-0 to advance to the semifinals of the UEFA Youth Cup.
Barcelona v Atletico Madrid about to start.

 

16 minutes gone.
Live stream by UEFA.

 

So odd how few fans are in the stands, not sure if it's true but I read that entry was free today to try to get supporters to show up, still so barren.

Nice Save!

Atletico got one in the goal but it was immediately disallowed, one of their forwards barged into our goalie and knocked him away from the ball, a second Atletico player then headed it in but the ref was certain and waved it off. Still 2-0 and about to book our place in Nyon for the semis (vs. Liverpool ManCity winner).

BACK TO NYON, for first time since 2014, for final four, 7 straight clean sheets.

 

Manchester City beats Liverpool 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. (no extra time, game went straight to penalties following 90 minutes)

LPB v Chelsea going on now.

 

So we play ManCity in the semis in Nyon (the draw was pre-determined), they are the "home side" so we may not get to wear blaugrana. I will root for Porto over Chelsea (who beat Real Madrid 2-4 despite a red card against Chelsea in the 68th minute when they were only up 2-3). Hopefully that is Chelsea's only win on Spanish soil today!