Barcelona beat Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League on Wednesday night, thanks in large part to a trio of 'outstanding' young midfielders.

While Rafinha will get the credit for his amazing hat-trick, Barcelona's win was down to the hard work of Marc Casado, Pedri and Fermin Lopez in midfield.

All three are just 21 years old, and two of them were lucky to even make the team.If it weren't for injuries, Gavi, Andreas Christensen and Frenkie de Jong would have played ahead of two of those three. Pedri would have been a shoe-in for the squad.

Instead, Casado and Lopez joined forces with Pedri and became household names.

Barcelona may have missed out on a perfect midfield trio after holding off attacks from Bayern's experienced trio of Thomas Muller, Joshua Kimmich and Joao Palhinha, who have 21 league titles between them.

Casado, who has a great sense of when to step up and defend, was the deepest of the three midfielders, protecting the defence and winning the ball back for his team.The former Barcelona B captain only made his first start for Barcelona this season, but he's now a regular for Hasi Flick's side. He's played in all of the Champions League games this season and provided an assist on Wednesday.

Next up is Pedri, who is already a superstar and a true transition champion, constantly picking up the ball from defenders and passing it forward.Pedri joined Barca from Las Palmas in 2020 as a 16-year-old and won the Golden Boy award in 2021. He signed a contract extension that same year that includes a €1bn (£846m) release clause.

Lopez filled out the midfield trio and played as a number 10.The youngster was given free rein against Bayern and was often the most dangerous player on the pitch, setting up four of Barca's goals with two assists. After he came back, Fermin gave a great performance in a short period of time, so people forgot about Olmo for a while.

La Masia is still turning out new talent, and Barcelona's future looks bright.