Here's how Yamal, Raphinha and Pedri led Barcelona to La Liga title in Flick's first season

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lamine Yamal provided the dazzle, Pedri set the pace and Raphinha scored the crucial goals as Barcelona won the La Liga title by playing its most electric soccer since the heyday of Lionel Messi.

While his players excelled in a campaign that also included a Copa del Rey title, Barcelona's success was in large part due to coach Hansi Flick.

The former Bayern Munich manager took the same core of a squad that won nothing the previous season under Xavi Hernández and turned it into the one of the most entertaining sides in Europe.

Flick’s non-negotiable game plan of pressing high up the pitch to recover balls in attacking position was fervently executed by his players. The result was a domestic double and a memorable Champions League semifinal against Inter Milan that Barcelona was seconds away from winning.

Backed by Yamal's 53rd-minute goal, Barcelona clinched the title Thursday with a 2-0 victory over Espanyol.

“Flick has a large part of this title,” Pedri said after the decider at Espanyol. “He completely changed the team, and this season is one to be remembered.”

Here are the other keys to Barcelona’s success in the 2024-25 Spanish league season:

Yamal confirmed his status as the rising star of international soccer just weeks before the club season began when he stole the show in Spain’s European Championship victory.

He carried his fantastic play into Barcelona’s season, and over the course of the campaign his weight in the attack increased, as did his role as a vocal motivator.

His comment to a teammate when Madrid was up 2-1 in the Copa del Rey final summed up his and Barcelona’s mentality: “It doesn’t matter if they score one goal, it doesn’t matter if they score two goals. They can’t hang with us.” Barcelona went on to win 3-2.

Yamal helped lead several comebacks and was a big reason that Barcelona swept all four clasicos against Real Madrid by a combined score of 16-7: two in the league, the cup final and the Spanish Super Cup.

And, fittingly, he curled in a stunner to lead the victory that sealed the title.

If there is one player who symbolizes the renewal of Barcelona this season it is Raphinha.

Raphinha blossomed from a workhorse winger into a decisive scorer and team leader who could play at multiple positions.

The Brazil forward scored 18 of his 34 goals in the league, including twice in a 4-3 comeback over Madrid that pretty much decided the title race.

Robert Lewandowski poured in 25 league goals as the veteran striker completed a formidable front three that was comparable to the great Barcelona trident of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez.

Their goals and the superb play of right back Jules Koundé helped vindicate the decision made by club president Joan Laporta three years ago to sell off future TV rights and other assets so that Barcelona could sign Koundé, Lewandowski and Raphinha as part of a bid to rekindle the club’s winning ways.

Ferrán Torres also emerged as a super sub striker, especially when Lewandowski was injured late in the season.

Despite the fantastic play of Barcelona's forwards, Pedri was the most indispensable player for Flick.

The midfielder, who at age 22 is already completing his fifth season as a undisputed starter, put in his best campaign since he broke out for Barcelona as a teenager. He led the team in minutes played and firmly established himself as the successor of midfield greats Xavi and Andrés Iniesta thanks to his ball control, vision, passing and sense of timing.

Pedri was helped by new arrival Dani Olmo, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi Páez, Fermín López and Marc Casadó to provide Barcelona with the best midfield in the league.

Flick’s most notable imprint on the team was its very high line in defense.

The first-choice back four of Alejandro Balde, Iñigo Martínez, Pau Cubarsí and Koundé were masters of pushing up the field and coordinating perfectly to spring offside traps.

They compacted the space the opponents had to work in and allowed their teammates to swarm in and steal balls to devastating effect.

An honorable mention goes to Wojciech Szczesny, who came out of retirement to play in goal for the injured Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

Barcelona’s future looks bright.

Yamal at 17 leads its youth movement, and Pedri, Gavi, Cubarsí, Fermín, Balde, Casadó, Pablo Torre, Ansu Fati and Gerard Martín, along with other youth-team players used by Flick, are all under 23 years old.

The only players near the end of their career are Lewandowski at 36 and Martínez at 33 years old.

So, all in all, Flick’s Barcelona has the potential to keep this going for years to come.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Barcelona's Fermin Lopez, left, and Lamine Yamal celebrate after the La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Real Madrid in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, May 11, 2025. AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's head coach Hansi Flick, left, and Espanyol's head coach Manolo Gonzalez hug before a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Espanyol and Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

Barcelona's Fermin Lopez scores his side's second goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Espanyol at Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Lamine Yamal scores during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Espanyol and Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Breton)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)