On Wednesday evening, the Spotify Camp Nou will open its gates to the public once more and for the first time in the new season.
After all, FC Barcelona will be taking on the Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly in the Joan Gamper Trophy on the night, and it is set to be a night of celebrations and smiles.
For starters, Barcelona’s Spanish-dominant core will likely be greeted with much love by the crowd as they arrive for the first time as World Champions and having made their country proud.
Then there are the new signings who will be officially presented to the fans as part of the pre-game festivities, and they too will look to make an impact in the team’s first home game of the season.
Barça Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Al Ahly.
The traditional curtain-raiser
The Joan Gamper Trophy at Barcelona is never about the silverware, the 90 minutes of football or the tactical battle that unfolds on the field. It stands for much more, and in an emotional sense.
Year after year, the match signifies the curtain-raiser to Barcelona’s new season and is the team’s customary introduction to fans across the globe and in the stadium.
The Joan Gamper Trophy is not about the football but the festive mood, excitement, anticipation and pure celebration as the fans welcome the team back on the field to kick-start a new campaign.
Rodri will greet Barcelona fans at Camp Nou. (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
Ahead of the game, the entire dressing room will be presented to the fans and each player will individually step up and grace the field. It will be followed by the captain’s introduction, the captain’s speech, the manager’s speech and other formalities.
It will thus be a big day for the new signings Karim Adeyemi Anthony Gordon, and even for Rodri who is expected to be a part of the presentation but not the game itself.
Further, the new hierarchy of captains will also make themselves known to the fans with Raphinha, Pedri and Eric Garcia confirmed as the leaders for the season ahead.
Midfield magicians return
Barcelona’s last pre-season friendly ahead of the Joan Gamper clash was against FC Basel at the weekend, and Hansi Flick had an almost fully available squad at his disposal on the night.
Two notable names who did not make the trip, however, were Pedri and Gavi as both players were not seen as prepared to make their season’s debut yet.
The former was working on a special recovery plan to ensure a phased return while the latter was withheld from the trip for workload management. Both players returned to group training earlier this week and are expected to be back tomorrow.
Pedri, in all likelihood, will be back in the heart of midfield from the get-go and is expected to feature for at least 45 minutes as the controller-in-chief. Gavi is also expected to play a significant part, likely off the bench.
In that sense, tomorrow’s clash against Al Ahly will be a special one as it will mark the return of both World Champions to the club’s dynamics and hand Barcelona’s midfield a massive boost.
Will the Raphinha experiment go on?
Set to play through the middle again? (Photo by Daniela Porcelli/Getty Images)
With no striker signing made till now, Hansi Flick has been creative with his existing squad options to fill that void in games so far.
Hamza Abdelkarim stands out as a contender to start as the number nine, but the manager went for an offbeat plan against Basel where Raphinha was deployed through the middle.
The Brazilian was tasked with playing as a false nine given the lack of options and was flanked by Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi.
It was not a new experiment as Flick has tried the idea in La Liga last season as well, but the results have never been encouraging.
It is clear at this point that taking Raphinha off the wing immediately reduces his productivity, and it will thus be interesting to see if the manager persists with that experiment or opts to try an alternative plan tomorrow.
After all, it is his final chance to test out a new combination in a friendly setup, and he could well opt to play the likes of Lamine Yamal or Dani Olmo as a false nine.
There is, further, the option of trying out Gordon as a striker – something that has been floating around as a concrete idea in recent days.