Barcelona can make it four wins out of four -- ahead of the international break -- if they are able to beat Real Valladolid over the weekend.
The Catalan side have beaten Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano to start the season. Those wins see them atop LaLiga with nine points.
However, the win over Rayo Vallecano came at a cost with 17-year-old Marc Bernal rupturing his ACL and thus set to miss the rest of the season. Already plagued with a number of injuries to important players, Barcelona will need to try to get by and hope some of those players come back after the break.
Against, Valladolid Barcelona have the opportunity to head into the break with a perfect record and in first place.
"We have to do our job, we did it the last three matches and hopefully we do it tomorrow," Hansi Flick said in his prematch press conference. "We had one day off on Thursday and now we prepare for Valladolid. The players are fresh and looking good in training."
With three games in a week, Flick may decide to rotate his squad on Saturday.
Dani Olmo could start after his impressive debut against Rayo Vallecano. His introduction in the second half turned the game around for Blaugrana before Pedri's equalizer and Olmo's eventual winner.
One obvious change will be in central midfield With Bernal out long-term, Flick has the unenviable task of finding a holding midfielder.
"We have Marc Casadó and also Eric cn play this position," Flick said. " Eric is more a defender, but he also played in midfield in matches when he came on for us, also in training and he did really good."
Flick utilized Eric Garcia in that position in preseason as well as in the opening match against Valencia. He missed the Rayo match due to injury and rumors circulated he could well return to Girona. But given the injuries to the defense, Flick requested for Garcia to stay.
Out of both players, Casadó is the safest bet given it's a position he is familiar with and because, on paper, Valladolid is a team Barcelona should be beating. Depending on how the game goes, Flick could try out Garcia there in the second half so he can better gauge how both players perform.
So far, the biggest difference between this Barcelona and the one from last season is they are more capable of seeing games out and the main reason is their fitness level. They're able to keep up that intensity throughout the match and it was evident in their trips away where they went down early but came back in the second half.
With a number of players heading out with their respective national teams, both Pedri and Lamine Yamal could be rested. That would give the likes of Pau Victor, Fermin Lopez and even Pablo Torre an opportunity to see some minutes.
Valladolid currently sit 11th in LaLiga and have only scored one goal in three games. They can be a tricky team and Real Madrid could attest to that. They held them for quite a while at the Santiago Bernabue. While Madrid won 3-0, two of those goals came late.
For Barcelona to have success, they're going to need to circulate the ball quickly and be efficient in front of the goal. Robert Lewandowski has gotten off to a strong start and has three goals in his account. Though he could have a few more were it not for the woodwork.
Again, on paper, this is a match Barcelona should win but every side can have an off game. Should Barcelona come away with a victory, they'll be a perfect four-for-four and head into the break feeling very positive about their start to the season.
Predicted starting XI:
Ter Stegen
Fort - Cubarsi - Martinez - Balde
Torre - Casadó - Lopez
Pau Victor - Lewandowski - Raphinha