FC Barcelona announce squad for La Liga match against Valencia

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana travel to Mestalla for their La Liga season debut against Valencia, and new manager Hansi Flick has called up the following 22 players for Saturday’s clash:

Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Iñaki Peña, 26. Ander Astralaga

Defenders: 2. Pau Cubarsí, 3. Alejandro Balde, 5. Iñigo Martínez, 15. Andreas Christensen, 23. Jules Kounde, 24. Eric García, 29. Álex Valle, 32. Héctor Fort, 35. Gerard Martín, 36. Sergi Domínguez

Midfielders: 8. Pedri, 14. Pablo Torre, 17. Marc Casadó, 28. Marc Bernal

The English men’s national team should have already been qualified for the 2002 World Cup. But as they’d previously been known to do, they made things just a bit harder on themselves. David Beckham had a 93′ chance to draw against Greece.

Forwards: 7. Ferran Torres, 9. Robert Lewandowski, 11. Raphinha, 18. Pau Víctor, 19. Lamine Yamal

Flick’s first squad list features the return of Pedri, who has managed to be fit enough for the league opener despite suffering a knee injury in Euro 2024. There are still several key pieces missing, however, as Dani Olmo is out per the coach’s decision while Ronald Araujo (hamstring), Gavi (knee), Frenkie de Jong (ankle) and Ilkay Gündogan (head) miss out due to injury. Gündogan was expected to be in the squad but the club says he’s out as a precaution after taking a knock to the head against Monaco on Monday.

Predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1):

Ter Stegen; Kounde, Christensen, Iñigo, Balde; Casadó, Bernal; Yamal, Torre, Raphinha; Lewandowski

The match kicks off at 9.30pm CET (Barcelona), 8.30pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3.30pm ET, 12.30pm PT (USA), 1am IST (India, Sunday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.