Barcelona are back in action after the first international break of the campaign as the reigning champions play their opening home game of the La Liga season against traditional rivals Valencia at the Estadi Johan Cruyff.
The Blaugrana won their opening two matches of the season but dropped points to Rayo Vallecano in an ugly game before the break, and now they’ll look to rebound and play their best football against a Valencia side they utterly dominated last season.
Here’s how we think Hansi Flick
will line up his troops for Sunday’s battle.
Defense
Barça’s defense conceded the most big chances among all 20 La Liga teams in the first month of the season, and Hansi Flick is yet to find his favorite combination at the back as the absence of Iñigo Martínez has been clearly felt so far.
The Blaugrana travel to England for their Champions League opener against Newcastle on Thursday, but that shouldn’t impact Flick’s selection too much given we’re still early in the season and how important it is to find defensive consistency.
Andreas Christensen made his first start against Rayo two weeks ago and looked excellent, and followed that up with two great performances for Denmark in the international window. Keeping the Dane in the lineup is a good idea to give him more rhythm, and pairing him with Pau Cubarsí might help provide the answer to the defensive woes.
Jules Kounde is expected to keep his place at right-back, and with Alejandro Balde injured we should see a start from Gerard Martín on the left.
Midfield
Frenkie de Jong will likely miss Sunday’s match with a booty injury (technical term), and with Gavi having some very concerning knee issues there’s only one choice for Pedri’s partner in the double pivot: Marc Casadó.
The number 10 position has quietly been a problem so far as Flick has started all three of Dani Olmo, Raphinha and Fermín López in that spot without great results, and the coach will continue to give them chances until one of them wins the job. Olmo was very wasteful against Rayo two weeks ago, so we think Fermín will get the nod this time to hopefully start bringing some consistency in the position.
Attack
Barça’s attack has been disjointed and selfish to start the season, and they really need to return to their best quickly as monster European games will require the Blaugrana to start scoring goals again. Lamine Yamal will retain his spot on the right wing, but the other two places in the front three will likely be up for grabs.
Raphinha would normally be the starter on the left, but the Brazilian had to play a half-hour in the altitude against Bolivia and returned late to training, and he might be saved for the game against Newcastle. That would open the door for Marcus Rashford, who needs a big performance to silence the early noise after a less than stellar start to his life at Barça.
Ferran Torres had a strong start to the season as the striker, but Robert Lewandowski had two productive starts for Poland and might very well be physically ready for more minutes after dealing with an early-season injury. We think the veteran makes his first start here, hoping to find the net to build up his confidence beyond just his fitness.
Possible XI: Garcia; Kounde, Cubarsí, Christensen, Martín; Cubarsí, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Rashford; Lewandowski (4-2-3-1)
How do you think Barcelona should line up against Valencia? Let us know your thoughts, predictions and teams in the comments below!
