Barcelona’s Clasico form gives Fermin confidence
Barcelona’s 4-2 Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain hasn’t changed Fermin Lopez’s view of Sunday’s meeting with Real Madrid. He believes Barça have a strong chance to win, with Hansi Flick’s side leading LaLiga by six points and carrying a record against Madrid that gives his confidence a statistical basis. The defeat in Europe was emphatic on the scoreboard, but Fermin is treating it as one result rather than a verdict on Barcelona’s season or their prospects in the Clasico.
Since Flick took charge, Barcelona have won six of seven Clasicos across all competitions and drawn the other. Before his arrival, they’d managed only four wins in 15 meetings with Madrid, alongside one draw and 10 defeats. The shift is hard to dismiss, though a short run of matches can describe recent form more readily than it can guarantee what happens next. For Sunday, it gives Barcelona evidence that they’ve found ways to trouble their biggest domestic rival.
“It’s never good to lose any match, especially in the Champions League, but ultimately it’s just one game and three points,” Fermin said. “Our focus is now completely on El Clasico. It’s an extremely important match, and we’re very eager to get back to winning ways.” His comments set a clear boundary around the PSG result: it matters, but Barcelona can’t afford to let it occupy the preparation for a game with immediate consequences in the league. That’s a practical message from a player who’s looking ahead, rather than a claim that the setback has been erased.
A setback, but no retreat from Barça’s approach
Barcelona lost to the reigning European champions on Tuesday. Xavi Espart and Lamine Yamal scored after the break, but PSG took control late and finished with a 4-2 victory. Fermin felt Barça had competed well even if they couldn’t close out the game, a distinction that matters when a team has to assess what went wrong without discarding everything it did well. The late swing in the score is a reminder that competitive spells don’t always translate into control of the result.
“I don’t think we played badly against Paris. They’re also a great team and made things difficult for us, but I don’t think we were far from winning,” he said. That assessment acknowledges the quality of the opposition while keeping Barcelona’s own performance in view. It’s a player’s reading, not a full account of the match, and the final score leaves little room to pretend the result was close in the way that matters most. Still, his point is that Barça saw enough in their display to carry their approach into the next game.
Against Madrid, Fermin expects Barcelona to stick with their usual style while managing the details that can decide a close match. “We need to know how to control Real Madrid, but I think if we execute our style properly, we’ll have a great chance of winning,” he said. He also pointed to Madrid’s individual quality as a reason Barça must stay alert. That’s the tension in his assessment: Barcelona want to impose their own football, yet they can’t assume that possession or a familiar plan will neutralize the threat posed by Madrid’s players.
Here’s the thing: a team’s stated style only becomes useful in a Clasico if it holds up under pressure. Fermin’s comments suggest Barcelona see the task as both positive and cautious: play their way, but control the opponent and attend to the moments that can turn the match. This is more significant than it looks. Their record against Madrid gives them reason to trust the plan, while the PSG defeat has just shown how quickly a match can move beyond a team’s preferred script.
A chance to extend a remarkable league start
The league table adds weight to Sunday’s stakes. Barcelona have won their first nine LaLiga matches, becoming only the second team to open a season with nine straight victories. Real Madrid were the first, in 1968-69. No club has won its first 10 games in a LaLiga campaign, leaving Flick’s team with a chance to set a new mark. The record is a milestone within reach, but it also puts the Clasico in sharper focus: Barcelona can extend their run against Madrid while pursuing a piece of league history.
That prospect doesn’t make the outcome predictable. A winning streak tells you what Barcelona have done so far; it can’t settle what happens in the next match. And yet, a nine-game start is meaningful evidence of consistency, especially when the fixture offers a direct test against Madrid. If you’re working in this space, the useful distinction is between momentum as a source of confidence and momentum as a promise. Fermin is leaning on the first.
For him, the occasion is personal as well as pivotal. He said he has dreamed of playing in El Clasico since childhood, and Sunday will be his second appearance in the fixture at Camp Nou. He has scored at the Bernabeu before, but Barcelona didn’t win that match. The detail gives his ambition a sharper edge: a goal in this rivalry is memorable, but it isn’t the outcome he says matters most.
“I hope I can score at Camp Nou on Sunday and that we win,” he said. “That’s what matters most to me.” A personal milestone would be welcome, but the team result is the priority in his own telling. The short version: a goal alone won’t settle the day for him.
What Sunday’s test could show
Barcelona’s recent results support Fermin’s optimism, but they don’t remove the risks in facing Madrid after a demanding European setback. The team has to carry its league form into a match where individual quality can punish small lapses, while also showing that the PSG defeat hasn’t unsettled its confidence in its approach. That’s a meaningful test of the side’s composure as well as its tactics.
For Fermin, the route to a win is straightforward in principle: control Madrid, execute Barcelona’s style, and stay alert to the players who can change a match. Whether the team can do all three will determine how much its strong Clasico record and unbeaten league start count on Sunday. Barcelona have reasons to believe. Now they have to make those reasons count on the pitch.