Barcelona begin their defense of the La Liga title this Saturday when they travel to beautiful Palma de Mallorca to face Real Mallorca at Son Moix in their season debut.
Barça had a very successful preseason with four dominant wins, but this is a real step up in competition as the Catalans go to one of the toughest grounds in Spain to meet a very talented and well-coached squad that always plays Barça tough and will be hungry to start their season with a big upset against the domestic treble winners.
Here’s how we think Hansi Flick will line up his troops for Saturday’s battle.
Defense
Barça’s success last season was built on a high-risk, high-reward defensive strategy that worked wonders thanks to their offside trap and the brilliant individual play of their four main starters in Jules Kounde, Pau Cubarsí, Iñigo Martinez and Alejandro Balde. Iñigo is now gone, and replacing him will not be an easy task.
Ronald Araujo will likely be the first choice to partner Cubarsí in the opening weeks of the season, but a healthy Andreas Christensen will provide big competition for the Uruguayan. Eric García had an excellent preseason and has been tipped by some to start ahead of Kounde, but we think the Frenchman will return to his rightful starting spot at right-back, with Araujo, Cubarsí and Balde rounding out the back four ahead of Joan Garcia, whose registration should be complete in time to make his official debut as Barça’s new number one.
Midfield
Barça’s midfield depth could very well be the key to another successful season as long as Flick is more willing to rotate his squad and take advantage of all the wonderful options at his disposal in the middle of the park. We know that Pedri will be an undisputed starter all season as long as he’s healthy, but everyone else is truly competing for the other two spots in midfield.
Frenkie de Jong will likely begin the campaign as Pedri’s partner in the double pivot, but Gavi looked every bit like his pre-injury self in preseason and will fight for his spot, and Marc Casadó is healthy again and was always a high-level performer last season. Marc Bernal will also return to the fold soon, and Dani Olmo knows his spot as Barça’s number 10 will never be guaranteed as long as Fermín López is around.
In fact, because of Olmo’s minor injury that caused him to miss the Joan Gamper Trophy and because of Fermín’s brilliant performance in that game, we think López will start this one as the 10 in front of a Frenkie-Pedri double pivot.
Attack
Robert Lewandowski is expected to miss the first few weeks of Barça’s season due to a hamstring injury and Marcus Rashford’s status for the opener is still not official as of this writing, so for now that leaves only three options for the front three: Lamine Yamal on the right, Raphinha on the left, and Ferran Torres up front. That could end up being Barça’s starting attack for many games this season if the reports of a reduced role for Lewandowski are indeed true, and Ferran has a big opportunity to make an early statement regarding his place in the ‘Gala XI‘.
Possible XI: Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsí, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Raphinha; Ferran (4-2-3-1)
How do you think Barcelona should line up against Mallorca? Let us know your thoughts, predictions and teams in the comments below!
