The Hansi Flick era gets underway against Valencia
The first match for Barcelona under Hansi Flick will be a tricky away match at the Mestalla against Valencia.
The Catalan side begin the new LaLiga season with cautious optimism with a new manager and some new faces.
The US tour went well for Flick and Barcelona, coming away with wins over Manchester Cit and Real Madrid. They lost against AC Milan in penalties in their third and final match.
However, Barcelona then came crashing back down to reality at the Joan Gamper match where they lost 3-0 to AS Monaco. Despite the result, Flick has high expectations heading into the season opener.
"I'm really looking forward to the first game," Flick said in his pre-match press conference. "Valencia is always a special place and it will be a tough game. Valencia are playing well and offensively."
Barcelona head into the clash a little shorthanded. Flick will be without Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araujo, Gavi and latest signing Dani Olmo. The first three are out due to injury and Olmo needs to get back to fitness. Though there is still questions as to whether or not Barcelona can register Olmo as they need to make room in their wages.
The good news is Pedri is likely to travel with the team and could see minutes in the second half should Flick deem it necessary.
Flick: "Pedri is a very special player, and he changes the team on his own. He might be an option for the second half, and I'm sure he can help us a lot."
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) August 16, 2024
It is imperative for Barcelona to start the season off with a win. Last season was full of missed opportunities and slow starts which were the main reasons as to why Barcelona were so far back of Real Madrid in second place.
In their encounters last season, Barcelona drew the match at Mestalla 1-1 and won the match at home 4-2.
One of the knocks on Xavi and his team was their fitness. It seemed like after the hour mark, they got tired and it reflected on the pitch with Barcelona lacking in their pressing and giving up easy goals in the process.
It is one of the things Flick was brought in to improve and we'll get a hint of how far along he is in that pursuit against Valencia.
With a number of players still missing, Flick is likely to field some academy players to round out the starting eleven. The combination of Marc Bernal in central midfield and Marc Casadó went well during preseason, which means the duo could be in line to start, marking the first team debut for Bernal.
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In their LaLiga debut last season, they drew 0-0 against Getafe. Barcelona undoubtedly want to get things started off on the right foot. Moreso than anything to quiet down some of the grumblings the past week due to failed signings and the thrashing at the hands of Monaco. While a win in the first league match isn't indicative of how things are going to go, it's better to kick things off with a win than dropping points and already behind in the table.