Andreas Christensen produced one of the most important individual performances in , Hansi Flick is counting on Christensen as an important member of his squad now that the defender appears to have returned to full fitness.
It is a significant change from where the 30-year-old found himself only a few months ago.
Gone from fighting for fitness to starting in Europe
To understand the gravity of the defender’s appearance, it is important to note that Christensen played more minutes against Feyenoord than he managed across the entirety of Barcelona’s Champions League campaign last season.
His 2025/26 European involvement amounted to just 77 minutes over four appearances, none of them starts. He played 30 minutes against Newcastle, eight against PSG, 33 against Chelsea and six against Eintracht Frankfurt.
This season already looks very different.
Andreas Christensen played full 90 minutes against Feyenoord. (Photo by Judit Cartiel/Getty Images)
Christensen completed Barcelona’s pre-season and started two of their first three La Liga matches, against Elche and Rayo Vallecano, completing 90 minutes in both.
He then played just over 30 minutes against Valencia before returning to the starting XI against Feyenoord, which is enough to conclude that the consistency is finally returning.
A difficult injury is now behind him
The significance of that progress becomes clearer when looking back at last season.
On December 21, Christensen suffered a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during training.
The injury kept him out for more than 150 days, with his comeback eventually arriving on May 23 against Valencia.
That appearance came after more than five months without playing and consisted of 35 minutes.
Christensen has come a long way. (Photo by Judit Cartiel/Getty Images)
By then, much of his season had already disappeared.
Now, Christensen has been able to complete a full pre-season and build match fitness without another interruption. For Flick, that in July, another indication that the club values what he brings.
While his defensive reading is one part of it, his experience and ability to play out from the back give Flick another profile at centre-back, something that becomes particularly useful when the fixtures start arriving every few days.
Christensen is heading into his fifth season as a Barcelona player, but this feels like the beginning of a fresh chapter.
After spending much of the previous campaign trying simply to get back on the pitch, he is now being trusted with responsibility again.
