As Takahashi liked European football due to its competitive level, he decided to make Tsubasa leave São Paulo and join Spain's F.C. Barcelona at the age of 21. In 1998, Takahashi traveled to Barcelona and enjoyed the Camp Nou stadium so much that he was inspired by it to make the Barcelona team Tsubasa's future team. Nevertheless, Takahashi asserted it was a decision taken at random and joked that Tsubasa would have joined the Real Madrid if he had visited Santiago Bernabéu. For this part, Takahashi started using professional players inspired by real-life football stars, most notably Rivaul (inspired by Rivaldo) who would mentor Tsubasa in Barcelona. Due to Tsubasa's inexperience in his debut as an adult, Rivaul becomes his mentor.