27-year-old Barcelona player once again proves his importance in Leganes win | OneFootball

FC Barcelona retained their 4-point lead over Real Madrid in matchday 31 of La Liga as they won 0-1 over Leganes at the Butarque, with Jorge Saenz’s own-goal proving to be the difference on the scoreboard.

Hansi Flick decided to put in a somewhat rotated starting lineup for this game, keeping in view the hectic schedule that the Blaugranes are facing in this final stretch of the season.

Two of the changes in the Barcelona starting eleven for this game were the exclusion of Pau Cubarsi and Frenkie de Jong, whose place was taken by Ronald Araujo and Eric Garcia.

In the first half of the game, there was a clear lack of the ball circulation that has otherwise characterised Flick’s team, and as a result, the Catalans barely generated any chances to threaten the goal.

However, things changed at half-time as Ronald Araujo was subbed out for Frenkie de Jong, with Eric Garcia moving to the defence and the Dutchman playing in the midfield.

As SPORT has noted, the Dutch midfielder’s entry significantly changed the game for the Blaugranes, and only a few minutes after his arrival, Barcelona scored their first goal.

Playing only 45 minutes in this game, Frenkie was still able to complete 44 of 46 of his passes, with a  96% success rate. He also put in 1 key pass and also completed 1 long ball. Furthermore, he also won 2 of the 4 ground duels. Thus, his arrival saw a clear increase in ball circulation for the team.

This last game was only the latest indication of how Flick has successfully integrated and made a midfielder perform at his best level once again after he was mentally disconnected from the squad for a major part of the campaign.

Since the Spanish Super Cup final against Real Madrid, the Dutchman has missed only 1 game, and that too because of gastroenteritis. In his 21 appearances in 2025 so far, he has scored 1 goal and assisted another.

With his increasing involvement in the Barcelona team, one can hope that he and the Catalan club can quickly reach an agreement for his renewal.