Though the 2026/27 La Liga season has already began, Barca don’t play their first fixture of the marketing campaign for an additional week, so Sunday afternoon saw them continue their pre-season preparations with a fixture against Basel.
With the Gamper Trophy towards Al Ahly to come back, it was the penultimate likelihood for Hansi Flick to see what his facet are manufactured from, and to offer some extra fringe gamers an opportunity to impress.
Let’s check out three speaking factors from the sport…
Getty Pictures
For any culers questioning what it’s that Anthony Gordon will convey to the occasion, we noticed it in abundance towards the Swiss facet.
His energetic and optimistic working have been a function for the Blaugranes, and his goal was crystal clear each time he received the ball.
Whoever ought to start the season within the central place – hopefully not Gordon himself – must be on the identical wavelength, as a result of the England star’s tempo and directness are going to see him beat his marker out huge as a rule.
He wasn’t shy to get again and win the ball when vital too, so Hansi Flick couldn’t actually have requested for extra from the Englishman.
Might Eric and Marc Bernal save the membership €70m?
Though the signing of Rodri from Man City seems to be a foregone conclusion relying on which media outlet you get your information from, it’s price posing the query as as to if Barca may really spend the cash higher elsewhere?
Towards Basel, each Eric Garcia and Marc Bernal acquitted themselves properly, and whereas neither may maintain a candle to Rodri as a defensive midfielder, each can play within the place, and as they confirmed on Sunday, they’re completely adept at taking part in in that function.
Simply because Barcelona can signal Rodri, it doesn’t essentially imply that they need to, until Flick and Deco explicitly imagine that he’ll take the facet to a different degree.
Eric and Bernal at the very least confirmed that the membership have choices.
Balde remains to be an issue for Barca
Alejandro Balde has had greater than sufficient time to cement himself because the go-to left-back for the primary workforce, however even now, there’s nonetheless one thing lacking from his recreation.
What number of instances did he misplace a go, not get in his cross after overlapping, or was came upon of place?
For the equaliser within the first half, possibly he was additional away than he wanted to be too, or is that slightly harsh?
There’s a motive why Gerard Martin has now change into a favorite for that exact function, and there’s an argument for cashing in on Balde whereas the membership nonetheless can.
