This week’s action saw an astonishing 71 goals over two nights, with the Premier League responsible for many of them
Barcelona’s youth system. Ahead of Sunday’s edition of El Clásico between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two clubs won their midweek matches. Real Madrid’s opponents were Juventus, in the type of heavyweight clash the Champions League’s rejig into a 36-team group stage was supposed to throw up on a regular basis. Wednesday’s meeting fell short of classic encounters like 2003’s meeting of Madrid’s Luís Figo and Zinedine Zidane with Juve’s Pavel Nedvěd and Alessandro Del Piero. In 2025, Juventus are not the force of yore, though they made Madrid sweat. The sole goal came from Jude Bellingham, England’s great enigma.
Barcelona meanwhile, continue to show the depth of their La Masia youth academy. Fermín López, 22, scored a hat-trick, while 17-year-old attacking midfielder Pedro “Dro” Fernández supplied an assist on his Champions League debut in a 6-1 drubbing of Olympiakos. Last weekend, Toni Fernández, six months younger than Pedro, started against Girona in La Liga. Each may play some part in Sunday’s big match, with Madrid two points ahead of their eternal rivals.
Bayern Munich. Another European giant is enjoying a flowering of youth. On Tuesday, Bayern’s coach, Vincent Kompany signed a three-year extension after his side’s faultless start to the Bundesliga campaign. The club hierarchy approves of Kompany’s blooding of players like Lennart Karl and Wisdom Mike, two more 17-year-olds. Karl, whose muscular 5ft 6in frame recalls 1990s German great Thomas Hässler, completed a solo effort with a fine finish to become his club’s youngest ever Champions League scorer in a 4-0 thrashing of Club Brugge.
