Barcelona's Ambitions: Chasing Every Trophy Under Laporta

Joan Laporta stood in front of the Rafael Casanova monument, the familiar wreath at his side and the Catalan flags all around, but his mind was somewhere else entirely: on a Barcelona team he believes is finally built to chase everything again.

Not just a good season. Every trophy. With the Champions League shining brightest.

Feet on the ground, eyes on the sky

The club president cut a measured figure on Catalonia’s National Day, careful not to let the early-season buzz spill into complacency. The start has been strong under Hansi Flick, the mood around the squad transformed, yet Laporta refused to be swept away.

“We must keep our feet on the ground, as the season has only just begun,” he told Sport, the reminder as much for the fanbase as for the dressing room.

The caution lasted only a moment. Then the competitor in him came out.

“We hope to continue at this level, with great commitment. And to win this year, you have to run. The commitment of the team and the club is a great sign.”

That word – commitment – is doing a lot of heavy lifting at Barcelona right now. It is the line that connects the club’s financial reconstruction, the renewed faith in youth, and the arrival of a coach whose football demands intensity without the ball as much as brilliance with it.

Lamine Yamal as a standard-bearer

Laporta did not need to search long for an example. He found it in one of the youngest voices in the squad.

Lamine Yamal has spoken recently about the importance of running and pressing, about the non-negotiables that underpin Flick’s work. For a teenager to be framing the debate in those terms struck a chord with the president.

“What Lamine says at the age of 19 deserves a lot of appreciation, as his maturity is astonishing,” Laporta said. “He is a clear example of the need for the team to keep its focus and not feel relaxed, in order to fight for everything.”

In a club historically defined by its artists, Barcelona now hold up a 19-year-old winger as the symbol of their work ethic. It tells you where this project is headed. Talent is assumed. Effort is demanded.

A squad built to compete on all fronts

The optimism inside the club is not based on words alone. Laporta pointed directly to the squad and to the work of sporting director Deco as the foundation of his belief.

“We have a very competitive and balanced squad, and Deco has done a great job,” he said. “Everyone must be fully focused, as we have a lot of quality and we can form two competitive teams, and there is no room for relaxation.”

Two competitive teams. That is the phrase that will echo around Europe if Barcelona back it up. It speaks to depth, to internal competition, to the idea that rotation no longer means a drop in level.

It is also a clear message to the dressing room: nobody is safe, nobody can drift. Flick can change half a side and still expect the same standard. Laporta has given him the tools; now he expects a return.

The dream of four trophies

Then came the part that would have sounded like fantasy not so long ago. Laporta did not hide, did not downplay, did not hedge. He set the bar at its highest point.

“We are candidates to win the titles,” he declared. “Our objectives this year are to win the league, the Copa del Rey, the Super Cup, and the Champions League. We must always maintain the team spirit, and thinking this way will lead us to winning titles.”

La Liga. Copa del Rey. Supercopa. Champions League.

A quadruple.

Barcelona have not finished a year with four or more trophies since 2015, when Luis Enrique’s side swept through Europe and beyond, lifting the league, the cup, the Champions League, the European Super Cup, and the Club World Cup. Every time Laporta talks about “titles” in the plural, that season sits in the background, a benchmark and a burden.

This squad is different, the context is different, but the expectation at the top of the club has circled back to that era. Competing is not enough. Being “there or thereabouts” is not enough. The standard is silverware, and not just one piece of it.

Europe at the heart of the project

Domestic ambition is one thing. In Barcelona, though, the true measure has always been Europe. Laporta did not try to disguise that hierarchy.

“We have a special enthusiasm to win the Champions League,” he admitted.

The word “special” matters. La Liga would validate the project. The Copa del Rey would underline the depth. The Supercopa would add gloss. The Champions League, though, would change everything.

Barcelona have not lifted the trophy since 2015. For a club that once treated semi-finals as a minimum requirement, that gap feels like an eternity. Each early exit since then has carried its own scar; each season without a deep run has chipped away at the aura.

Under Flick, the club senses an opening. A more balanced squad. A tactical framework built on aggression and structure. A dressing room that mixes emerging stars like Lamine Yamal with hardened campaigners desperate for one more shot at the biggest prize.

The president can feel it. The optimism is not subtle, and it is not small. It stretches from the wreath at the Casanova monument to the tunnel on Champions League nights.

Now the question is no longer whether Barcelona dare to speak openly about winning everything.

It is whether this team can carry the weight of those words all the way to the podium in May.