Barcelona have played four pre-season friendlies to this point, and their results have been anything but impressive.
Hansi Flick’s side have lost two and won two games so far, with one of the wins arriving over Europa with barely any first-team players.
Since then, they have lost to Birmingham on penalties, and Udinese with the only win arriving against Nottingham Forest by a 1-0 margin.
One common factor across all the aforementioned games, however, was that the core of the team was missing in them all. Even the most recent friendlies had only the likes of Andreas Christensen, Raphinha, Fermin Lopez and Gerard Martin as well-known starters.
Now, however, the team have welcomed back the biggest names and Flick’s true pre-season will only commence now. There may indeed be just one friendly and the Joan Gamper Trophy match left remaining, but these will be the games that truly matter.
Barça Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Barcelona’s next pre-season game against FC Basel scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
The World Champions return
Spain dominated the recently concluded FIFA World Cup and were deservedly crowned the champions of the world after a tournament where they defeated several heavyweights across all stages of the competition.
Barcelona’s World Cup winners are back. (Photo courtesy: X/FCBarcelona_es)
A significant part of the Spanish dressing room, unsurprisingly, was composed of Barcelona players and La Masia graduates, just as was the case back in 2010.
Pedri, Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Ferran Torres and Dani Olmo all played a crucial part in La Roja’s route to the title while the likes of Joan Garcia, Eric Garcia and Gavi were also part of the contingent.
The entire Spain fleet is now back in training, with many called up for tomorrow’s game as well. In that sense, the clash against Basel is huge.
Garcia, Olmo, Cubarsi, Eric and Lamine are all travelling with the team for the pre-season game. While they will likely not start, having them back on the field will be massive for Hansi Flick and his plans.
After all, the coach was forced to plan out most of his pre-season campaign with the core of the team out, and their return will help gauge a more realistic idea of how Barcelona will start the new season.
Pedri and Gavi, notably, have been left out of the squad, likely for fitness reasons and they get back to match fitness away from the group.
A debut for the new signing
Barcelona have only made two signings so far this summer, both in attack. While Karim Adeyemi has made his debut for the club already, Anthony Gordon is yet to feature in a game for Barcelona.
Snippets from training have already shown how the former Newcastle United star is adapting well to life under Hansi Flick and how his energy and style of play flow well with Barcelona’s overall idea.
Tomorrow, the player will make his debut for Barcelona as he is travelling with the squad for the first time. A lot of eyes, needless to say, will be on Gordon to see where and how he is deployed.
The initial idea around the Englishman’s arrival was to keep him as a rotational option with Raphinha who has struggled on a fitness front in recent years.
With the club struggling to find a new striker now, however, Gordon’s name has also been linked with the number 9 role.
It will thus be interesting to see where Hansi Flick deploys the new signing on his debut – as a striker or a winger. The tactical aspect aside, there will also be a lot of emphasis on witnessing how the player fits into the team’s style.
Barcelona’s first game without a striker
Earlier today, Barcelona officially announced the departure of Ferran Torres to PSG – a move that leaves Flick with no striker at the club. After all, Robert Lewandowski left the club at the end of last season.
Ferran Torres has left Barcelona. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Julian Alvarez remains Barcelona’s top priority target for the centre-forward role and has been the focus for a long time now. With every passing day, however, that deal looks increasingly unlikely.
Heading into tomorrow’s game without a natural striker, Flick may well be staring into a tunnel that has no light at the end of it. With the possibility of not having a natural striker for the entire season edging towards reality, it is high time Flick finds answers.
Two options have risen in recent days – changing the system or finding an internal solution to the number nine problem, and the manager could well opt to try both approaches tomorrow night.
The former idea revolves around the use of a false nine – a tactic that Olmo offers a useful solution for and Lamine has also been spotted training for in recent sessions. With Raphinha and Gordon on the flanks, fielding a false nine would not be surprising.
The second option would be to keep Yamal and Raphinha on the flanks and deploy Gordon as a striker, for the Englishman has played in that position in the past. His efficiency as a target man, however, remains to be seen.
With most other pieces of the puzzle snugly fitting, the striker situation is one that plagues the Catalans, and there will be a lot of attention to that department in tomorrow’s clash.