In a wonderous match of El Classico earlier in Dallas, Barcelona managed to thrashed their arch-rivals, Real Madrid in a 3-0 humiliating defeat during a pre-season friendly match.
Who is Fermin Lopez?
One of the main highlights of the game wasn’t the victory to the Catalans, but was the emergence of what seems like rising young talent at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona has always been a club which produced and honed talents, instead of buying them. In fact, their focus on the youth academy has been one of main pillars of the success that the club has seen. These talents produced by the club has always managed to bring the club back on track in dire times.
Incredibly enough, with Barcelona’s current situation of financial burdens, it seems like their youth wing might have produced another top-tier talent which can prove be a gamechanger and the next big thing at the Camp Nou, it is none other than Fermin Lopez.
A Clasico debut for the ages
In a stadium full of 82,000 people, against a deadly team of Real Madrid, it nothing short of gamble when you replace Pedri in the 66th minute of the match, despite the fact that it was pre-season friendly.
And as for the rising star, Lopez himself, considering how vital every senior team game is for him at the moment, the pressure of proving himself as a promising and impressive player in a super competitive squad might easily have thrown him into a panic attack and fazed him.
However, the young talent snatched this rare opportunity to make the most of it. With not a sense of hesitation, he pushed a veteran like Toni Kroos to lose possession and lashed a shot from his left foot, beating Courtois and netting the shot into the top corner.
As the fans beheld another talent produced by Barcelona, who had the potential to rise into a star in the coming times, Lopez’s Instagram following sensationally skyrocketed from a mere 82k to 330k after the end of match, showing a rise to fame is not too far-fetched.
Lopez did not stop affecting the match after he scored the goal, in fact he also made a marvellous assist to teammate Ferran Torres, which became the third goal of game, making the 19-year-old directly involved in two goals out of the three scored by Barcelona.
Fermin Lopez the new youth icon of Barcelona?
It is to be noted that the Camp Nou produces a new youth icon every latest season, who take the world of football by storm and make into the hearts of all the cules and general fans alike.
To name a few of these youngsters who have seen a rise of fame over the last few years as young academy graduates had been Ansu Fati in 2019, Pedri in 2020 and Gavi and Alejandro Balde later in the coming years who have now made their impact felt throughout for club and country.
Fermin Lopez might as well be the diamond in rough for this season, who spoke to the press after the el classico win and stated that about his goal, he had his eyes only on the ball, he saw the target and hit the ball with all his soul.
Lopez also stated that he wanted to dedicate this particular, possibly career-changing goal, to his family who were having a hard time. As for his club, he stated that he had been a Culer ever since he was a child and this was nothing short of pride for him.
The trajectory of the Fermin’s career is now being closely monitored by everyone worldwide, with his goal against Real Madrid setting the expectations really high, he would need to maintain the consistency in case he wanted to seal his spot in the first team in the coming season.
Barcelona’s midfield currently consists of players like Pedri, Gavi, Gundogan and Frenkie de Jong; with the club’s financial restrictions, Fermin might be the perfect attacking spark that Xavi is looking for. Xavi has also made it known that he was not up for any loan deals and would be aiding the first team in the coming season.
“He [Fermin Lopez] trained really well for this day. We think he can help us throughout this season,” state Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandes when asked about his thoughts on Lopez.
