Fermín López: Overcoming Injury to Chase Champions League Glory

For months, Fermín López couldn’t even bring himself to turn on the TV.

Spain were marching towards World Cup glory, but one of the brightest young midfielders in Spanish football was nowhere near the screen, let alone the pitch. His body was in rehab, his mind still on a plane that never took off.

“It’s been the worst summer of my life,” he admitted to Catalunya Radio’s Tot Costa from Barcelona’s pre-season camp in England. At the very moment he felt at his peak, the injury hit. The timing cut deep. Form, confidence, momentum – gone in an instant.

The emotional crash was so heavy that he shut the tournament out completely. Spain’s first matches? He didn’t watch. He couldn’t. Every minute would have been a reminder of where he believed he should have been.

He wanted to be there. On the grass, in that shirt, in that tournament.

Support became his lifeline. Family, partner, friends – and crucially, his coach. Fermín made it clear he needed help to get through the spiral and that he got it, leaning on the people closest to him as he navigated the long, lonely days of recovery. The pain didn’t vanish, but it became manageable.

As Spain advanced, something in him shifted. The resentment gave way to pride. The further La Roja went, the more he allowed himself to feel part of it, even from a distance. By the time the final arrived in New York, he was there in person, watching his teammates become world champions. It still hurt, but now it also inspired.

Now the setting is very different: the English countryside, Hansi Flick’s Barcelona squad, and a ball back at his feet.

Months of gruelling rehabilitation have dragged him from the treatment room back onto the training pitch. The work has been relentless, but the payoff is finally in sight. Around him, Barça are building rhythm under a new coach. Inside him, confidence is returning.

“I’m feeling better every day. I have no discomfort, which is important,” he said, sounding like a player who has started to trust his body again. The target is clear: minutes in the Joan Gamper Trophy. Not a full return, not yet, but a symbolic one. A marker that the tunnel really does have an exit.

“If everything goes well, I could play a few minutes in the Gamper Trophy match,” he explained. Those few minutes would mean more than any friendly scoreline. They would close the chapter on the “worst summer” and open the door to a season he wants to own.

His mindset has hardened, not softened, through the ordeal. “The intention is to come back from this injury with even more motivation. I think I’m very ready. I’ve already shown how I can help Barça, and I have to continue doing the same next season.”

This isn’t just about reclaiming a squad place. Fermín is thinking bigger, and he’s not alone.

“The dream of winning the Champions League is shared by the whole team,” he said. There was no sense of fantasy in his voice, only conviction. The group has been together for three years, taken its knocks, learned its lessons. “We’ve been playing together for three years and have experienced a lot. I feel we’re ready to win the Champions League.”

It’s an ambitious statement, but it fits the mood. Domestically, Barcelona are chasing something historic of their own. Back-to-back titles are already in the bag; a third would push this side into a different conversation.

“Winning a third consecutive league title is difficult. It will be a tough year,” Fermín admitted, fully aware of the grind that awaits. The margins at the top are thin, the calendar unforgiving. But he sees a path. “If we’re focused on our game and united, we can win a third league title.”

From a summer he calls the worst of his life, he steps into a season that might define his career. The question now is simple: after everything he’s endured, how far can he push himself – and how far can he help push Barcelona?