Casadó: 'La Masia is the essence of Barça'

Marc Casadó got his first Liga experience on Sunday at the Civitas Metropolitano, coming on after 82 minutes, and told the club media afterwards that "it’s a dream for me. I’d made my Champions League debut but this was my first game in La Liga and when they told me I was going on, the emotions you go through when playing your first game for the Barça first team, there are so many... It’s been a dream since I was little and I’m very happy."

Xavi Hernández had named the now 20-year-old in the squad 17 times this season, but Casadó hadn't once ended up on the pitch. Over a year has passed since he made his debut in the Champions League in November 2022 at Viktoria Plzen, while he also got chances this season against Shakhtar Donetsk and Antwerp. And now at last he has played in the domestic championship.

"My team-mates helped me to stay relaxed, they encouraged me that it would go fine" he said of the experience. "In these moments you remember everybody but the most important thing is to concentrate and get it right on the field."

The number of younger players that have been getting chances recently is something he describes as "spectacular ... we must be grateful to the club and the boss. I think La Masia is the essence of Barça and things should stay that way."

As for the future, the player who has been at Barça since 2016 when he arrived from Damm insists that "the ultimate goal is to keep getting playing time with the first team and that means a lot of hard work."