Rise of a Football God-Chapter 441: A matchday to rest
(Copa del Rey:)
(Final:)
(Barcelona 2–1 Real Madrid)
(Date: 26th April, 2026)
…
(UEFA Champions League:)
(Semifinal:)
(Leg 1 of 2:)
(Barcelona 3–3 Inter)
(Date: 30th April, 2026)
…
(La Liga:)
(Valladolid – Barcelona)
(Date: 3rd May, 2026)
…
(UEFA Champions League:)
(Semifinal:)
(Leg 1 of 2:)
(Inter – Barcelona)
(Date: 6th May, 2026)
…
(La Liga:)
(Barcelona – Real Madrid)
(Date: 11th May, 2026)
16 days of death, 5 deciding games.
FC Barcelona already played 2/5 of the games. They won one, they lost one, now there were 3 games remaining in the grueling schedule of death.
FC Barcelona didn't lose any of the 2 games that they played but during that performance, there was a prevailing sense that the team was tired.
You could not blame them, the players were rightfully tired.
It was already matchday 34 of the Spanish La Liga, meaning that this season alone, FC Barcelona already played 34 games in the league. And as one of the biggest clubs in Spain, they didn't compete in the La Liga alone, they competed in other tournaments.
The elite club competition in Europe, the UEFA Champions League was the biggest but aside that, this season, FC Barcelona competed in the Supercopa de Espana, and the Copa del Rey.
Packing all those games together culminated into a grueling season where most of the starting FC Barcelona players were now tired and worn out.
Besides, on the back of the Inter Milan game, FC Barcelona just came from playing an intense El Clasico against their archrivals, Real Madrid.
No matter what form Real Madrid was in this season, the Spanish Capital Club was still a bonafide big club with some of the biggest names in football plying their trade for them. They were always a threat.
This was why for the Real Valladolid game, FC Barcelona fans clamored on social media, creating threads, pleading with Hansi Flick to rest all the important players in the team.
It was more than a decade already since FC Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League trophy. To the fans, the trophy was the priority this season.
Besides, it was not as if abandoning one game would doom the team.
Afterall, they had a sizeable 7 points lead above Real Madrid at the top of the Spanish La Liga table. So, they could afford to rotate heavily.
No one knew if the coach took the advice of the fans to do it, but on the prelude to the Valladolid game, Hansi Flick dropped a radical starting XI.
He heavily rotated the team.
FC Barcelona started with their regular 4-2-3-1 formation.
Inaki Pena, the backup goalkeeper started in between the posts for the Catalan club. Ahead of him was an unfamiliar defensive quadruple of Gerard Martin, Eric Garcia, Ronald Araujo, and Hector Fort in right back.
In the middle of the park was a midfield duo of Gavi and Frankie De Jong, while in attacking midfield was Fermin Lopez.
Further ahead, the offensive trio comprised Ansu Fati who was on the back of another loan season in left wing, Ferran Torres leading the line as the striker, Pablo Torre in right wing.
It was an entirely unfamiliar starting XI this season but no FC Barcelona fan complained. Rather, they traveling away fans kept up their support of the team.
They didn't place much hopes in getting a result from this game, but still, it was an opportunity for the club to give these players some playing experience.
For Real Valladolid, starting in a 4-1-4-1 formation, Ferreira started as the goalkeeper while ahead of him was a defensive quadruple of Aznou, Sanchez, Curnart, and Perez. Juric was the single man in defensive midfield.
Ahead of the defensive midfielder was a quadruple of Moro, Amallah, Chuki, and Anuar. Isolated up top was Latasa who led the line as the striker.
…
3rd May, 2026…
The atmosphere at the Jose Zorrilla Stadium was electric.
Today, the Real Valladolid fans could smell victory. Despite playing against the current best team in the league, they smelled victory because this was a vastly different Barcelona side than the normal one.
The fans smelled it, and so, they turned the stadium into a cage.
A cage of raucous noise and support for their team, and FC Barcelona was the beast now caught in this stage, about to be slaughtered.
FWEEE!
The game started.
The first half of this game was a complicated affair.
Both clubs struggled to settle into the game as the 2 midfield clashed, struggling to control and orchestrate the game for their team.
Even against a diminished and heavily rotated FC Barcelona side, the Valladolid club failed to get a foothold on the game.
Still, they dominated in certain aspects.
Just as the first half seemed destined to end as a boring affair, in the 44th minute of the game, one of the offensive Valladolid players scored a strong contender for the La Liga goal of the season award.
Receiving the ball a few meters from the 18-yard box, Chuki, the Real Valladolid midfielder pushed the ball forward a bit before unleashing a shot that was straight out of the Gorgon Medusa's box.
He unleashed an unreal knuckle ball shot fueled by instinct.
Inaki Pena dived but he could do nothing as the ball hit the top bar before bouncing down and into the net.
Real Valladolid celebrated the goal exuberantly.
The first half came to an end 1-0 in Real Valladolid's favor.
Second half started with no changes made between both teams. In the 2nd half, with a goal ahead already, Real Valladolid finally found their tempo and it led to a few dozen minutes of FC Barcelona being punished.
The unfamiliar defense was pushed to their limits, violating the advantages of their high offside trap to the limit as the Real Valladolid players were caught offside 6 different times in 30 minutes.
By the 80th minute, FC Barcelona was barely hanging on, Inaki Pena's impressive performance keeping them in the game.
In the 82nd minute, Hansi Flick made his first change, a double change; taking off Frankie De Jong and Ferran Torres, introducing Pedri and Pau Victor into the game on their stead.
With Pedri on the pitch, the game was no longer chaotic. Barcelona gained control over the midfield battle for the first time, making the away Barcelona fans erupt with Pedri chants.
It was no longer as lopsided, but Real Valladolid was still the superior side, until the 89th minute of the pitch.
2 Barcelona youngsters combined for an unreal moment of magic.
Pedri played a deep lobbed pass into the box which Pau Victor, the young Barca striker brought down with his chest. Just as the hefty Valladolid defenders clashed into him, before bringing him down, the young striker flicked the ball to his right where Pablo Torre lurked.
Bam!
It was an instinctive volleyed shot from the young attacker.
Ferreira was rooted to one spot, watching as the ball flashed past him into the net. The goalkeeper groaned and fell backward in frustration.
"GOALLLLL…!!!"
The away FC Barcelona fans celebrated excitedly like they just won the game.
The referee added 3 minutes of additional time. During those 3 minutes, Real Valladolid did everything to get the winning goal but it never came.
The game ended in a draw.
