The opening game of La Liga is not far away anymore for Hansi Flick and FC Barcelona. However, despite a rather positive preseason tour of the United States of America, there has been some skepticism about Barça‘s chances this season. Most notably, the recent 3-0 defeat to Monaco was hardly a positive sign for Barcelona in terms of things to come.
Fortunately for the new German coach and his team, that game was still just a preseason encounter that does not hold any official weightage in the actual campaign. This upcoming game against Valencia, however, will definitely be a much more important test.
It is expected that Hansi Flick will likely field his strongest possible eleven for this game knowing how important a good start can be for any league campaign. Moreover, it seems that Barcelona midfielder Pedri could also be present for this game based off his recent training and recovery progress.
As highlighted by the official Barcelona sources, Hansi Flick even spoke about the young midfielder in a recent press conference ahead of the Valencia encounter, labeling the former Golden Boy winner as a ‘special’ player:
“Pedri is a special player and he changes the team by himself. Perhaps he will be an option for the second half and I’m sure he can help us a lot.”
Ahead of the match itself, Flick also spoke about other things including the preparations for Valencia and how he considered the loss to Monaco to be inexcusable. However, he also highlighted that he believed his players to be tired and that they did have a long preseason without much rest before it as well.
With the words regarding Pedri, however, many will speculate that perhaps the youngster’s arrival back into the team now seems like a guarantee. While nothing has been officially confirmed as of yet, the Barcelona squad list for the Valencia game will reveal everything in time.
