Hansi Flick's FC Barcelona debuts this Saturday in LaLiga in an always difficult state such as Mestalla. The culés face Valencia at home in what will be the debut of the season and their coach in an official match. The German needs a victory to get his project off to a good start and thus demonstrate that Joan Laporta has not made a mistake in betting on him.
For this league debut, the Barça coach will not be able to count on several 'heavyweights'. The already known absences of Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araújo, Ansu Fati and Gavi, who were injured, were joined this Saturday by Ilkay Gündogan, 'touched' from Gamper. The German retired against Monaco after a knock and the medical team has advised him to rest, so he will not be against the 'Ches' and will be a notable absence for the clash.
Luckily, not everything has been misfortune for Flick, since for this duel he recovers a great starter in Pedri. The Canarian, who was aiming to return against Athletic next week, has finally brought forward his return one game and will sit on the Mestalla bench. Although he is fine with his physical problems, he does not have competition rhythm and Hansi already announced in a press conference that he will only have minutes off the bench in the second half.
Confirmed lineups for Valencia-FC Barcelona
- XI of Valencia: Mamardashvili, Correia, Mosquera, Yarek, Jesús Vázquez; Guillamón, Pepelu, Javi Guerra; Diego López, Rafa Mir and Hugo Duro.
- FC Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Koundé, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Balde; Casadó, Bernal, Ferran Torres; Raphinha, Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal.
- FC Barcelona bench: Peña, Christensen, Ferran, Pedri, Pau Víctor, Eric García, Atralaga, Álex Valle, Héctor Fort, Gerard Martín and Sergi Domínguez.