For most young Barcelona players, the ultimate goal is to find their own place in the first team. Developing through the ranks of La Masia and the quarry, these players aspire to reach the heights of the greats before them. However, even the journey to becoming a Barcelona first team player is a challenge itself.
Going through the ranks and climbing them may sound like an easy task from the outside looking in, but these youngsters are often competing against the very best of the best when it comes to players their age. For each individual, people from unique backgrounds and baggage, that first team goal is one that can change their lives.
Some players, however, seem to have been born to play for Barcelona no matter how one looks at it. Lamine Yamal was a great example of this, given just how much he stood out from among his peers when he was a player for the quarry and subsidiary as well.
Another such player is none other than 17-year-old Marc Bernal, as pointed out by SPORT. In this report, an exclusive account of his subsidiary goal record has been shared and it is safe to say that the numbers are beyond surprising, even more so due to the fact that the player in question is not even a forward but plays as a midfielder.
Across his time in the youth teams of FC Barcelona, Bernal has played a total of 286 games that have ranged from 7-a-side football games to proper 11-a-side football matches. As for his goal tally, the young midfielder has scored a total of 280 goals across all the youth teams he has featured in and across all formats.
That would mean that he boasts an extraordinary goal scoring average of 0.97 goals per match. However, if only his goals from the 7-a-side format are taken into account and the matches he played in said format, his 243 goals in 153 games gives him an absurd average of 1.58 goals per game.
In the Under-8 Barcelona team, Bernal scored 58 goals across 28 games. For comparison, even Lamine Yamal himself only scored 25 goals in his debut youth season. Then, for Benjamin C, he scored 50 goals in 29 games. Right after his promotion to Benjamin A, he continued his great goal scoring record by putting the ball into the back of the net on 39 occasions across 35 games.
Then came Bernal’s time to shine for the Alevin C team first, for which he scored 46 goals in 30 games. For Alevin A, right afterwards, he showed no signs of slowing down and managed to reach another unreal tally of 50 goals in 31 games for the Barcelona youth team.
However, moving forward with the Infantil teams and then Cadet teams, there was a definite dip in the otherwise otherworldly scoring averages that the player had accumulated. For Infantil B and A combined, the young midfielder scored 11 goals in total across 31 games.
Next up, for Cadet B and A, the player managed to score a total of 23 goals in 56 outings. His playing days for the Cadet teams showcased his impressive qualities, moreover, and it also earned him a promotion to the Juvenil B team where he did not get a chance to score a goal across his five games.
He only played five games, however, because his next move came quite soon. Becoming a Barcelona Atletic player not long afterwards, young Marc Bernal scored twice across his 35 games for the club. He did, however, also manage to score a goal for Juvenil A in his handful of matches for the team.
All in all, his numbers are beyond absurd and for a player to standout as much as he did during his youth career speaks a lot about him. Combining both physicality and technical mastery, the player’s next goal is to succeed with the Barcelona first team and he has been more than convincing so far for Hansi Flick and the team.
