Figo Praises Barcelona's Strong Start in LaLiga
Luis Figo has seen enough football to know when a team are flying, and right now he sees Barcelona in full cruise at the top of LaLiga.
Hansi Flick’s side have opened the season at a blistering pace: seven games, seven wins, 31 goals scored, and a six-point cushion over Real Madrid. Perfect on paper, rampant on the pitch.
For a man as closely tied to the Bernabéu as Figo, that takes some admitting.
Figo tips his hat to Flick’s Barça
Speaking to Radio MARCA, the former winger and current UEFA adviser did not dance around the obvious.
“They have started very strong. They're winning, they're playing very well, they're scoring goals,” he said, a concise summary of a Barcelona team that has turned early-season form into a statement.
The numbers back him up. Twenty-one points from a possible 21. An attack that has sliced through LaLiga defences with ease. A new coach whose ideas have landed instantly.
Yet Figo quickly applied the brakes to any talk of a title procession.
“You have to see how the season goes, which is very long,” he warned, a reminder that LaLiga is rarely won in autumn. He also underlined what this resurgent Barça means beyond club colours: “For Spanish football, logically, it is good.”
A strong Barcelona, a wounded but lurking Real Madrid, and a title race with real bite. That is the ecosystem he wants to see.
Faith in Madrid’s response
Praise for the leaders did not come at the expense of his old club. Figo’s conviction in Real Madrid’s staying power remains intact, even with that six-point gap.
“Surely Madrid will compete until the end. This is a competition that has to be regular until May. There will be highs and lows during the season,” he said.
The message was clear: this is a marathon, not a sprint, and Real Madrid know how to suffer through it.
“When there are lows you have to have the maturity and also the quality to overcome them and move on,” he added, speaking from the experience of someone who has lived every twist of a title run-in.
For now, the table flatters Barcelona. Figo expects the pressure to rise, the margins to narrow, and Madrid to be there when it matters.
Ballon d’Or talk – and a nod to Mbappé
Away from the league table, Figo stepped carefully around the Ballon d’Or debate as voting closed.
“Who has the power to decide is the one who votes. You have to wait to see what happens. I don't vote, so I don't have that problem in my head,” he said, refusing to plant a flag behind any single candidate.
He did, however, single out Kylian Mbappé.
“He is always at a very high level. He's one of the best in the world, to score goals,” Figo noted, a simple but pointed compliment for a forward who continues to dominate the biggest stages.
While Mbappé earns his applause, the public conversation has tilted towards Barcelona’s new sensation. Lamine Yamal, still a teenager but already a headline fixture, currently leads much of the discussion, with teammate Rodri and Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane also firmly in the frame.
Barcelona on top of LaLiga, their young stars pushing into Ballon d’Or territory, Real Madrid cast in the role of hunter rather than hunted. Figo has seen this rivalry in every possible light — and he clearly expects this version to burn all the way through to May.
