Barcelona will aim to make it four wins from four La Liga matches this season when they return to action on Saturday afternoon with a clash against newly-promoted Real Valladolid.
Hansi Flick's side are top of the table, boasting nine points from their first three games of 2024-25, while Real Valladolid occupy 11th, claiming four points from their opening three matches of the season.
Match preview
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Xavi's departure as Barcelona head coach at the end of last season came as a surprise, and there is major pressure on new manager Flick to battle Real Madrid for the title this term.
All things considered, it has been a very impressive start to Flick's reign, with the German dealing impressively with a number of off-the-field problems, while he has been able to navigate the team to three straight La Liga wins over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano to pick up nine points from an available nine.
Barcelona have had to come from behind in two of those three games, including last time out against Rayo Vallecano, with Pedri levelling the scores on the hour, before Dani Olmo capped his debut with a winning goal, finding the back of the net in the 82nd minute of the contest in Madrid.
There is still an awful lot of football to be played before the end of the season, but Barcelona's start has been impressive, especially considering their injury problems, and the Catalan outfit will be expecting to enter the September international break at the top of the table with 12 points from four games.
As it stands, the club have only made two signings this summer, with Pau Victor and Olmo arriving, but there is expected to be movement in the latter stages of the market, with the club likely to sign a new midfielder after losing Marc Bernal for the rest of the season due to a serious knee injury.
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Real Valladolid, meanwhile, can also be pleased with their start to the season, having picked up four points from their opening three matches, which is enough for 11th spot in the table.
The White and Violets secured a return to Spain's top flight by finishing second in the Segunda Division last term, and they started their 2024-25 campaign with a 1-0 home success over Espanyol.
Paulo Pezzolano's side then lost 3-0 to Real Madrid, but they had frustrated the champions for long spells of that contest, and it was only 1-0 until the 88th minute, when Brahim Diaz scored, before Endrick added a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time to make it seem like a comprehensive win.
Real Valladolid were back in action on Wednesday evening, drawing 0-0 with Leganes, and they will now tackle Barcelona ahead of the international break, before taking on Celta Vigo on September 14.
Pucela actually beat Barcelona 3-1 when the two teams last locked horns in May 2023, but they have not managed to overcome the Catalan team away from home since November 1997.
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Team News
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Barcelona currently have seven players unavailable for selection, with Bernal the latest to suffer a problem; an ACL injury for the 17-year-old was confirmed on Wednesday, and he will now undergo an operation.
Andreas Christensen, Eric Garcia, Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi are also missing for Barcelona, with Flick's options for change limited at this moment in time.
The head coach will be able to hand a full debut to Olmo, though, after the Spaniard featured off the bench against Rayo Vallecano, and there might be two further changes to the side that took to the field for the first whistle last time out, with the injured Bernal set to be replaced by Fermin Lopez, while Alejandro Balde should come in for Gerard Martin at the back.
As for Real Valladolid, Anuar Tuhami remains unavailable for selection, but the visitors are otherwise in excellent shape for this weekend's contest.
Juanmi Latasa, who arrived from Real Madrid over the summer, is pushing to start after featuring off the bench against Leganes, but he might have to remain patient.
Ivan Sanchez is another who will be in Pezzolano's thinking when it comes to possible alterations, but it would not be a surprise to see the same team from Wednesday night, with Raul Moro and Amath Ndiaye supporting Mamadou Sylla in the final third of the field.
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Balde; Fermin, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Real Valladolid possible starting lineup:
Hein; Perez, J Sanchez, Boyomo, Rosa; K Perez, Juric, Amallah; Ndiaye, Sylla, Moro
We say: Barcelona 2-0 Real Valladolid
Real Valladolid are bidding to make it back-to-back wins over Barcelona for just the third time in their history, but we are finding it difficult to side with the visitors here. Barcelona might have to be patient on Saturday, but Flick's team have enough quality to navigate their way to a fourth straight success in the new season.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Matt Law
