There is one training session left, and Hansi Flick spent Tuesday’s using it as a laboratory. In the small-sided game at the Ciutat Esportiva, the German put three players in positions that are not their own: Jules Koundé at centre-back, Brian Fariñas at right-back and Raphinha through the middle as a number nine. None of them lined up on the same side, which tells you this was about information rather than a dress rehearsal for the Barcelona lineup vs Al Ahly.
That matters because, according to Mundo Deportivo, the XI Flick sends out in the Joan Gamper Trophy on Wednesday night is expected to look a lot like the one that starts the LaLiga opener at Elche on Sunday. The Gamper is a party — the 61st edition, the first back at the Spotify Camp Nou since 2022, a full squad presentation and Raphinha’s captain’s speech — but it is also the last live look Flick gets before the season counts.
Koundé back where he started
The most consequential of the three is Koundé at centre-back. Mundo Deportivo have reported for weeks that the coaching staff view a return to his original position as a live option, and that idea has gained weight since Ronald Araújo left on a season-long loan to Liverpool. With the former captain gone, Barça are thinner in the middle of defence than they were in June.
The knock-on effect is at right-back, where MD state Eric García remains Flick’s first choice on the back of last season’s form. Slide Koundé inside alongside Pau Cubarsí or Andreas Christensen and the right side has to be covered by someone else — which is exactly what the rest of Tuesday’s experiment was about.
Raphinha as the number nine, again
For the second time in a week, Flick used Raphinha as his centre-forward. He did the same in the 5-2 friendly win at Basel, where the Brazilian shared the front line with Anthony Gordon, a player the manager has openly named among his options up top.
This is not a whim, it is arithmetic. Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford scored 54 goals between them last season and all three have gone, a hole Barça Universal have called the defining problem of Barça’s summer. Deco is still working the striker market — Julián Álvarez remains the priority, with an internal Saturday deadline before alternatives are activated — but Flick clearly is not waiting on a signing to have a plan. Raphinha, Gordon, Fermín López and Dani Olmo can all occupy that space, and Fermín said this week that he is comfortable doing it.
Fariñas, Espart and the squad’s new utility men
The third test was the least expected. Fariñas played at right-back, to the right of Koundé, despite never having been used on the flank for Barça Atlètic. Flick had previously indicated he saw Tommy Marqués as a right-back option; Fariñas has now taken that place in the group.
Xavi Espart, meanwhile, repeated as a central midfielder after impressing there against Basel, returning to training on Tuesday after a rest day following a demanding pre-season that included the U19 Euros with Spain. Pedri and Gavi both remained in full collective work, per Barça Universal, having sat out the Basel trip under their post-World Cup workload plans.
What it means for the Barcelona lineup vs Al Ahly
One light session remains, on Wednesday morning at 9:30am, and it comes with a headline guest: Rodri, announced on Tuesday evening, will train with his new team-mates for the first time. He is not expected to feature against the Egyptians — you can read our full breakdown of when Rodri could make his Barcelona debut — but his arrival is the last piece of a squad Flick has spent a fragmented pre-season trying to assemble.
Expect the Al Ahly XI to be closer to a statement of intent than a rotation exercise. The tests are the point: if Koundé starts at centre-back on Wednesday, that is Flick telling us how he intends to solve the Araújo problem. If Raphinha leads the line again, it says something about how long Barça are prepared to wait for a number nine. Kick-off is at 20:00 CEST at the Spotify Camp Nou.
