Barcelona Friendly Preview: Forest and Udinese Await in Italy
The countdown to a new LaLiga season is on, and the next Barcelona friendly brings a proper test for Hansi Flick’s champions. On Saturday the Blaugrana travel to Italy for the Friuli Venezia Giulia triangular tournament, where Nottingham Forest and Serie A side Udinese are waiting.
For Culers, pre-season is less about the scoreline and more about fitness, chemistry and first glimpses of the new arrivals. With the Catalans’ summer recruits still bedding in and a LaLiga opener against Elche on the horizon, every 45 minutes in Italy carries weight.
What the Barcelona friendly format looks like
Saturday’s event is a three-club triangular made up of 45-minute matches rather than a single 90, so Flick gets a compressed but useful run-out. Barça are down to face both Nottingham Forest and Udinese across the afternoon, as Sports Mole reported, handing the German a rare chance to give minutes to a broad slate of players in one sitting. For a squad still building match sharpness, that volume of game time is exactly what the coaching staff want, and it means supporters could see two quite different Barça line-ups inside a single afternoon.
Flick’s champions ramp up
Barcelona arrive on the back of a mixed start to their preparations. Flick’s side drew 2-2 with Birmingham City on their English training camp before losing on penalties, having earlier faced CE Europa at home. The friendlies form line therefore reads modestly so far, which is precisely why the staff will value a stiffer test against Premier League and Serie A opposition on the same day.
The forward line also has a new look. Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi have arrived to freshen up the attack, while Robert Lewandowski, a mainstay of recent seasons, has departed. Watching how the reshaped front line knits together — who links with whom, who takes on the responsibility of leading it — is one of the main reasons for Culers to tune in. Every combination Flick trials now is a clue to how the champions will look when the points start counting.
What to watch for Barça
Their hosts arrive in flux of their own. Forest’s friendly results have swung from wins over Notts County and Blackburn Rovers to a heavy 4-1 defeat by Sporting Lisbon. Against that backdrop, Barça’s interest is largely internal: how the new forwards combine, who stakes an early claim to a starting role, and how much sharper the back-to-back LaLiga winners look with the season opener drawing closer. Expect heavy rotation as Flick carefully manages the loads of players easing back from a long summer of international football, with fitness rather than the result the priority.
It is only pre-season, but a convincing showing in Italy would send the Blaugrana into their title defence with genuine momentum. Champions rarely lack for confidence; for Flick’s men, Saturday is about turning that into rhythm before the real business begins.
