Where are they now? The Barcelona Atletic XI from Lamine Yamal’s last appearance
Lamine Yamal progressed through Barcelona’s youth academy at an alarming rate and is now arguably the best young player in world football.
At just 17, he’s already scored at and won the European Championship with Spain and made over half a century of appearances for Barcelona, scoring 13 goals and assisting 17 at the time of writing.
His rapid rise saw him training with the first-team at 15 and making his debut at 16, thus he didn’t hang around long in the club’s B team. Yamal’s final appearance for Barcelona Atletic was from the bench in a 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid Castilla on 11 June 2023. We’ve had a look at where that starting XI is now.
GK: Ander Astralaga
Shipping three on the day, 20-year-old Astralaga is still at Barcelona and learning the ropes in the B team.
Following an injury to Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, a spot did open up in the first-team, but Astralaga missed out with Inaki Pena and new signing Wojciech Szczesny sharing senior goalkeeping duties.
Fun fact, Astralaga’s younger sister Eunate is also a goalkeeper, playing at Athletic Club.
RB: Alvaro Nunez
His first and only season with Barcelona, Nunez left the club at the end of 2022-23 to sign for second tier side Amorebieta ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Following their relegation from the Segunda Division, he left and found another new club, staying in the second tier with Elche. So far this season, the 24-year-old has made 10 appearances in the league and provided two assists.
CB: Alex Carbonell
Captain on the day, Carbonell returned to Barcelona B for a second spell in 2022-23 after leaving the club’s academy for the first time in 2017.
He followed Nunez to Amorebieta and also left following their relegation, but instead opted for a new challenge entirely and signed for Almere City in the Netherlands.
They’re currently 17th in the Eredivisie at the time of writing.
CB: Chadi Riad
One of a few who actually broke into Barcleona’s first-team, Riad made his Barcelona debut in late 2022, while being ever-present for the B team.
Following that ever-present campaign, he made a big move into senior football in 2023-24, signing for Real Betis who had an obligation to buy for €3million. However, he only spent one season in Seville before they sold him for a sizeable profit to Crystal Palace this summer.
He made his Premier League debut in a defeat to West Ham, but suffered a knee injury three days later in the League Cup against Norwich and is set to be out until the end of the year at least.
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LB: Alpha Diounkou
The Senegal under-20 international was actually on loan at Barcelona B from parent club Manchester City from the beginning of 2022 through to the end of the 2022-23 season.
He wasn’t signed permanently and spent another season on loan away from Cityin 2023-24, this time in Cyprus with AEK Larnaca. He’s since stayed out there, signing permanently for Omonia this summer.
CM: Marc Casado
Hansi Flick’s new teacher’s pet, Casado’s rapid rise under the German has been astonishing.
READ: La Masia has done it again – Barcelona’s secret midfield genius tore Bayern Munich to shreds
CM: Moha Moukhliss
Moha actually began his professional football journey with Real Madrid, joining the club as a 10-year-old before leaving and moving around Spain in the years that followed.
He signed permanently for Valladolid in 2020 and spent two seasons there before signing for Andorra, and it was at the latter where he ended up on loan at Barcelona Atletic for the second half of the 2022-23 season, thus playing against the club where it all started.
The 24-year-old found a new permanent home in Murcia this summer, who play their football in Spain’s third tier.
CM: Aleix Garrido (Txus Alba 82′)
Garrido is still only 20 and has already made his senior Barcelona debut as a substitute under the now-departed Xavi, but is currently putting in the reps with Barcelona Atletic and will be hoping Flick takes notice sooner or later.
Making way for Alba on the day, the substitute left Barcelona altogether that summer and signed for Serie C side Ternana, but was gone by November and back in Spain with Antequera.
He now finds himself in the Spanish third tier with Cultural Leonesa, aged 21.
RW: Luismi Cruz
The 23-year-old Andalusian began his career with Sevilla and did well to bounce back from an ACL injury early on, eventually making his debut for the first-team before being loaned to Barcelona with an option to buy.
He spent the entire 2022-23 season with Barcelona Atletic, but the buy option wasn’t taken up and he was loaned to Tenerife the following season. Cruz has since signed permanently for the club and has one goal and one assist from his first 13 La Liga 2 appearances this season.
ST: Roberto Fernandez
Yet another Spaniard who found himself on loan at the B team of perhaps the biggest club in the world, Fernandez scored seven goals in 36 appearances for Barcelona B before returning to Malaga in 2023-24, slotting straight into their first team as a starter.
After bagging 20 goals from 40 games in all competitions, he earned himself a move to Portuguese side Braga and is now playing Europa League football, aged 22. It’s been a modest start with two goals from 20 games in all competitions, but he’s only actually seen 904 minutes of action so far.
LW: Estanis Pedrola (Lamine Yamal 65′)
Pedrola managed one first-team appearance for Barcelona before leaving the club for Sampdoria in 2023-24, a loan that included an obligation for the Italian side to purchase the forward.
Samp find themselves in Serie B these days and the 21-year-old missed the start of the season due to an injury, but has just returned to action.
We’re not sure on this one, but we’re hearing that ‘Yamal’ kid is doing alright for himself, too.