August 5th, 2004.
That’s the day a youngster named Pablo Martin Paez Gavira was born in the province of Seville. Out in the coastal town of Bajamar in Tenerife, Pedro Gonzalez Lopez has just about learned to walk and talk. Today, we know them as Gavi and Pedri.
The landscape of Spanish football appeared very different back then. Valencia were the reigning La Liga champions, their second title in three years, while Deportivo La Coruna were still regularly finishing in the top two.
Barcelona had just endured a fifth successive trophyless season, their longest barren run in the post-war era.
But something was happening at the club. New president Joan Laporta had started a process that would change Barcelona forever. Frank Rijkaard had just led the club to second and there was a renewed sense of optimism ahead of the 2004-05 campaign.
Ronaldinho was the first marquee signing of the Laporta presidency and soon enough the Brazilian became the best player in Spain, if not the world.
Xavi Hernandez had long established himself as a classy operator in midfield and fellow La Masia academy graduate Andres Iniesta had emerged as another quality prospect.
An Argentinian kid by the name of Lionel Messi was generating hype, having caught the eye in a friendly against Jose Mourinho’s Porto the previous November, and was a few months off scoring on his competitive debut.
Rijkaard’s Barcelona won the La Liga title in 2004-05. A league and Champions League double followed in the next season. This heralded a new era for the Catalan club, the greatest in their history.
In the 15 years between 2004 and 2019, Barcelona won 10 La Liga titles, six Copa del Rey and four Champions Leagues.
Messi became the club’s all-time top scorer with 672 goals in all competitions. Xavi and Iniesta joined the No.10 on the Ballon d’Or podium in 2010, the peak of a midfield partnership that defined a historic era for Spain and Barcelona.
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READ: 13 incredible stats from Barcelona’s 2011 Champions League final win over Man Utd
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This was the era in which Gavi and Pedri grew up. All they had ever known was Barcelona as an all-conquering superforce.
But the Barcelona where they’ve developed into two of the best young players in Europe is not that club. This Barcelona is more akin to that of 2004; a broken club in the process of fixing itself.
Xavi departed in 2015, Iniesta went to Japan three years later. Three years after that Messi left for Paris…
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