Fermín López Returns to Spain National Team After Long Road
At the final whistle in the Sánchez Pizjuán, Fermín López looked like a man finally exhaling. The three points mattered, of course, but there was something deeper flickering behind his smile – a personal road back that had felt painfully long.
The La Masia product, born just up the road in El Campillo, is heading back into the Spain setup. Luis de la Fuente has recalled the 23-year-old for the upcoming Nations League fixtures, a call that lands differently after what he went through this summer. A physical setback robbed him of a place at the 2026 World Cup, a tournament he had been pushing towards only to watch it from the outside.
He didn’t pretend any of it had been easy.
"I am very happy to return to the national team. It was very hard not to go to the World Cup. I have started the season well and I am happy to return to the national team," Fermín said, the repetition underlining just how much the shirt still means to him.
On this night, though, the spotlight shone brightest on another Barcelona shirt.
Raphinha tore Sevilla apart. A ruthless hat-trick, three finishes that shredded a defence normally fuelled by its home crowd. Under Hansi Flick, the Brazilian has been pushed into new territory, drifting into central pockets instead of hugging the touchline as he did for Leeds United and in his early Barça days.
The tweak has changed everything. Raphinha now moves like a striker, thinks like a striker, and the numbers scream it: 12 goals in seven matches, a start that has hurled him to the front of the Pichichi race.
For Fermín, there is nothing accidental about it.
"Raphinha is our unexpected number nine. It’s tremendous what Raphinha is doing. He is very good and he adapts to any position. We give him the passes and he scores the goals. He had never played as a center forward and he is putting up very good numbers,” he pointed out, half in admiration, half in disbelief at how quickly his teammate has embraced the role.
Sevilla did not make any of it comfortable. They rarely do in their own stadium.
Fermín underlined just how suffocating the night felt at times, with the home side driving forward on a wave of noise and aggression. That is where Flick’s blueprint kicked in. Barcelona were drilled to respond not by retreating, but by biting back the second the ball was lost.
“Sevilla puts a lot of pressure on us here at their stadium, and Raphinha’s three goals have been decisive. The manager asks us to be very intense, to press high after losing possession,” Fermín revealed, neatly summing up the balance between individual brilliance and collective obedience to the game plan.
A local kid heading back into the national team. A winger reborn as a penalty-box predator. A Barça side learning to live higher up the pitch, even in one of Spain’s most hostile arenas.
If this is how early-season adversity looks, what happens when all of it truly clicks?
