La Masia and youth pass test with flying colours

Hansi Flick was not at La Masia when he learned about the game, and many feared that his arrival at the club might lead to a change of direction away from the club's strong youth policy. But the coach clearly knows exactly what it stands for and has had no qualms about turning to FC Barcelona's famous youth system in times of need, which due to many injury concerns he has had to with alarming frequency this season. But rather than something to worry about, it has been something to celebrate.

Youngest team since 2011

Against Bayern Munich he fielded the youngest Barça starting XI for a Champions League fixture since the 4-0 defeat of BATE Borisov on 6 December 2011. And the circumstances of those two games don't compare at all. Against the Belarussians, Barça had already qualified and Pep Guardiola's main reason for picking the likes of Fontàs, Bartra, the Alcántara brothers and Jonathan dos Santos was to give a rest to some of his more regular players.

On Wednesday, Flick was facing one of the strongest teams in the world in a high urgency encounter, especially after the defeat against Monaco on the opening day. But he started the game with a team whose average age was just 24 years and 185 days, the third youngest of the season after the ones that faced Alavés and Osasuna in the league. But on a night where Raphinha and Lewandowski were clearly the standout performers, the younger members of the team also stepped up to the challenge in brilliant fashion.

Eight from La Masia

In fact, although the starting XI was amazingly young, by the end of the game it was even younger still, to the extraordinary extent that by the time the final whistle blew, eight of the eleven players on the field were all products of the club's own youth system: Iñaki Peña, Cubarsí, Balde and Marc Casadó (who all played the full ninety), plus Pau Víctor, Dani Olmo, Ansu Fati and Gavi, who came on as subs.