The Marc Bernal Barcelona were supposed to ease out of the side this season is instead the reason a €60m signing keeps starting on the bench. Hansi Flick said before Monday night’s visit of Rayo Vallecano that Rodri was ready to start. When the XI landed an hour before kick-off, the academy graduate was in it again alongside Pedri, and the Manchester City arrival had to wait until the 64th minute. Barcelona won 5-2, made it three wins from three, and the canterano who kept the shirt was among the best players on the pitch.
The Marc Bernal Barcelona did not plan for
Flick made three changes from the side that beat Athletic Club, all of them elsewhere: Jules Koundé, Andreas Christensen and Dani Olmo came in for Eric García, Gerard Martín and Fermín López. The double pivot was left exactly as it was. That is a decision, not an oversight.
Bernal justified it inside twenty-one minutes. It was his quick, one-touch release that sent Lamine Yamal away for the goal that turned the game around at 2-1, seven minutes after Raphinha had cancelled out Sergio Camello’s opener. Mundo Deportivo’s player-by-player marked him “poderoso” — powerful — for a display that had him breaking into space more freely than in his first two outings, involved in the move for Florian Lejeune’s own goal, and inches away from scoring himself from outside the box.
Rodri finally replaced him on 64 minutes, with Barcelona 3-1 up and the hour of running already done.
“Competition is good and healthy”
Asked afterwards about the obvious — a World Cup-winning holding midfielder signed to play his position — Bernal refused to treat it as a problem.
“I’m very happy with the match,” he told DAZN, per Barca Universal. “We’ll keep working hard — three wins out of three — and try to achieve all our objectives.”
On Rodri specifically: “This is Barça, the biggest club in the world. There’s competition, of course, but that’s good and healthy.”
His form earns him the right to mean it. The other version of this summer — the one where Rodri’s arrival pushes an academy midfielder out of the door — is happening to Marc Casadó, choosing between Bayer Leverkusen and Besiktas on deadline day. Bernal is choosing between starts.
What Flick actually wants from Rodri
None of which means Flick has changed his mind about the signing. His one complaint was that Barcelona stopped controlling the game at 3-1, and Rayo punished it: Camello headed in an Unai López corner on 59 minutes for 3-2 before Raphinha and Lamine Yamal restored order.
“We played fantastically in the first half. 0-1 can happen, but the reaction was good,” Flick said, per Barca Universal. “When you’re 3-1 up, you have to control the game better, especially at home. We have the quality to have more possession.”
Then, unprompted, the Rodri justification: “That’s what he’s here for — to help us maintain control. To improve the team. Rayo are a good side with quick players. We need to learn to handle those situations better.”
So the plan has not moved. Rodri is the answer to the twenty minutes Barcelona keep losing in every match. Bernal is simply making the first sixty-five very difficult to take off him.
Bernal’s verdict on Raphinha, Lamine and the new boys
The midfielder spent most of his post-match media duties talking about everybody else. Raphinha, who scored twice as a No.9 and is now La Liga’s leading scorer, got the warmest words: “Raphinha is a role model because he helps us all a lot. Especially the younger ones. He’s approachable, and that’s what we want, a captain like that,” he told DAZN, as reported by Barca Blaugranes.
Lamine Yamal, who ended a two-match wait with a brace, “always shows the quality he possesses, which is immense”. Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi, he told TV3, are “two great signings”.
Feyenoord and the start of the Champions League are next on the horizon. Flick will rotate again, and at some point Rodri will start. On this evidence, Bernal will make him earn it.
