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29/01/2022
Act. a las 12:09
THIS
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Eight years ago a new competition was born to give European youth clubs a greater projection: the UEFA Youth League. Eight years ago, Barça made clear its strong commitment to grassroots football by conquering the emerging competition in its first edition. In that team a skilled winger began to stand out who has ended up becoming the new signing of the Blaugrana team: Adama Traoré.
That season, 2013/14, was one of the most magical that Adama experienced in his time as a Blaugrana, which lasted eleven campaigns; since he joined Benjamin B in 2004. Traoré played with Juvenil, made his debut with Barça B and made his debut with the first team in just over two months.
odd luck
At the age of 17, still in his youth, he was a fundamental piece in Jordi Vinyals’ gear to conquer the Old Continent. That litter overflowed with talent everywhere, although few would end up reaching the football elite. Several of them are without a team, such as goalkeeper Ondoa or forwards El Ouriachi, Maxi Rolón or Ebwelle; authors of four, three and one goal in said tournament, respectively.
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Several of them reached the Blaugrana subsidiary, such as José Aurelio Suárez, Palencia, Riera, Tarín, Quintillà or Kaptoum, but only Munir El Haddadi reached the first team. The Moroccan, who currently plays for Sevilla, played 56 games with the Barça first team, scoring 12 goals and dishing out 11 assists.
Others had to try their luck in more exotic destinations to be able to dedicate themselves to football professionally, such as Campins in Hungary, Godswill in Sweden, Huertas in Poland or Enguene in Kuwait and Georgia.
Like May water
Already in dynamics of Barça B, Adama returned to the Youth League in the final phase of the tournament. He returned to participate in the tournament in the quarterfinals, against Arsenal, a match in which he was the author of a double, which allowed the Blaugrana to reach the Final Four in Nyon after beating the Londoners 4-2. A solitary goal by Munir against Schalke 04 gave the ticket to the long-awaited final against Benfica.
Adama celebrates his brace against Arsenal in the Youth League quarterfinals
| Javi Ferrandiz
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Adama was part of the offensive trident, along with Munir – top scorer in the tournament with eleven goals in ten games – and El Ouriachi. The one from L’Hospitalet assisted the Moroccan in the 2-0: driving down the right flank, overcoming his rivals by speed and power, cutting inside the area to give the leather to Munir who finished off at first pleasure. He himself closed the scoring that Tarín opened with a great goal from his own half, taking advantage of the rival goalkeeper’s advanced position.
young promises
The first edition of the Youth League was the letter of introduction for several players who are currently installed in the Olympus of European football. Most of them occupying offensive positions, as is the case with Gonçalo Guedes, who reached the final with Benfica and scored four goals, the same as André Silva with Porto or Serge Gnabry with Arsenal. Some youngsters also made their debut as scorers Leroy Sané with Schalke 04, Kingsley Coman with PSG, Zinchenko with Shakhtar and Nathan Aké with Chelsea.
The national talent also stood out with Héctor Bellerín at Arsenal, as well as Mario Hermoso and Marcos Llorente at Real Madrid or an old acquaintance from La Liga: Lucas Hernández at Atlético de Madrid
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