Elche vs Barcelona: Flick's New Look Champions Begin Title Defence

The lights go back on at the Manuel Martinez Valero on Sunday night, and the champions walk into something unfamiliar. Same coach. Same badge. Very different Barcelona.

Hansi Flick starts his third season in charge with La Liga already conquered twice. The German has restored the club’s domestic authority. Now comes the hard part: keeping Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid at arm’s length at home while trying to drag Barcelona back to the top of Europe.

That journey begins in Elche at 9:30pm local time (19:30 GMT), a day after Mourinho’s Madrid open up at Espanyol. Al Jazeera Sport will be on air from 16:30 GMT, building towards live text commentary of Barca’s title defence.

Rodri in, Lewandowski out: a new spine

The headline change is simple enough to write, far harder to absorb: Rodri in, Robert Lewandowski out.

Barcelona have spent two seasons as a team that can blow you away going forward and then leave the back door swinging open. Flick’s high-octane football thrilled, but it also frayed nerves. The signing of Rodri from Manchester City is designed to calm everything down.

The Spain captain arrived as a rare market opportunity the club refused to let pass, especially with Real Madrid circling the 30-year-old before he chose Catalonia. He brings control, positional discipline and the authority of a World Cup and multiple Champions League campaigns. Barcelona see him as the man who can finally shield a defence that has lived on the edge and give their attackers a platform to go and win Europe again.

“I’m here to compete for everything, for big things like the Champions League,” Rodri said at his presentation. The message was blunt. The expectations, enormous.

But while one part of the pitch looks more secure, the other has been ripped up. Lewandowski has gone. Ferran Torres has gone. Flick’s attack, one of his great weapons, has been reshaped on the fly.

Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi have been brought in to fit the German’s idea of football: speed, aggression, relentless pressing. Both can run, both can harry, both can stretch teams that dare to push up. On paper, they look like pure Flick players.

The problem? None of them are Lewandowski.

The missing No 9

Inside the club, the big question is the same one fans are asking: who scores the goals Lewandowski used to guarantee?

Sporting director Deco tried to answer it in the transfer market. Barcelona pushed for Julian Alvarez, only to find Atletico Madrid unwilling to blink. The move broke down, and with it the clearest path to a ready-made No 9.

“What Ferran did we can cover with the signings, but what Robert did is more difficult,” Deco admitted. “We have internal solutions, but we will make another move; we’ll try and find the best solution.”

That “solution” might not be a superstar. After paying big money for Rodri and Gordon, Barca could yet settle for a cheaper forward now and reload for a marquee signing next summer.

Until then, Flick will have to improvise. Dani Olmo, Raphinha, Gordon and Adeyemi can all play as false nines, rotating, dragging defenders around, creating chaos instead of relying on a classic penalty-box striker. It is not Plan A in a traditional sense, but it does give the coach options.

Above all, Barcelona are banking on Lamine Yamal taking another leap. At 19, the teenager is already the central figure in their attack, the player around whom the entire project seems to orbit. Last season, injuries and off-field issues interrupted his rise. This time, the hope is for a full, uninterrupted campaign at full tilt.

If Rodri gives the team balance behind him and Flick squeezes enough goals from a fluid frontline, Barcelona believe they have enough to keep La Liga out of Madrid’s hands again.

For now, though, the first big call is up front at Elche.

Flick refused to name his starting striker but did single out 18-year-old Egyptian forward Hamza Abdelkarim, who hit four goals in preseason friendlies.

“Hamza is having a really great preseason,” Flick said. “He’s a number nine, he’s young, and he has a lot of potential, and also he scored goals. This is the important thing when you’re playing in this position, and he made a great job.”

It would be a bold move to throw him in from the start. Bold, and very Flick.

Memories of January and the numbers game

The last time Barcelona walked into the Martinez Valero, they walked out with a 3-1 win. Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford scored that day, a reminder of just how much the attacking cast has changed in a matter of months.

History leans heavily in Barca’s favour. This will be the 57th competitive meeting between the clubs; Barcelona have won 36 of them, with Elche claiming only nine victories.

The data agrees. The Opta supercomputer makes Flick’s side overwhelming favourites, handing them a 68 percent chance of victory. Elche sit at 14 percent, with the draw covering the rest.

But opening weekends have their own rhythm, especially for a home side with nothing to lose and a new champion to bloody.

Elche’s plan: three at the back and a stubborn streak

Martin Anselmi’s Elche opened their season with a 1-1 draw against Deportivo and are expected to stick with a three-man defence against the champions.

They will be without Adam Boayar and Yago Santiago through injury, trimming their options. The likely XI: Dituro; Chust, Redondo, Affengruber; Sangare, Villar, Aguado, Valera; Houary, Nino, Cepeda.

Compact, organised, three at the back, and ready to suffer without the ball. It is a familiar script for underdogs facing Barcelona, and Elche will hope the visitors’ search for a new attacking identity gives them something to cling to.

Barcelona’s team news: Rodri waits, Cancelo ready

For all the talk around him, Rodri will not debut in Elche. The former Manchester City midfielder is set to join up fully with the group on Monday and could feature in Thursday’s game against Athletic Bilbao.

“He’s very concentrated, focused. Our plan is that he will arrive on Monday with the team,” Flick told reporters.

Frenkie de Jong remains out, and Roony Bardghji is sidelined with a cruciate ligament injury, trimming midfield and attacking depth.

There is one fresh option at the back. Joao Cancelo, signed this week, is available and could play immediately.

“He’s ready to play. He has unbelievable technique and a lot of passion,” Flick said, underlining the Portuguese full-back’s readiness to jump straight in.

Barcelona’s predicted XI in Elche: J Garcia; E Garcia, Kounde, Martin, Balde; Pedri, Bernal; Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha; Abdelkarim.

It is a team that screams energy and youth, with Pedri pulling strings, Yamal carrying the creative burden and Abdelkarim potentially leading the line.

The champions arrive with questions in the penalty area and answers in midfield still to come. Elche, under the lights, will try to turn those doubts into an opening-night shock.

If they can’t, and if this new-look Barcelona click early, La Liga might discover that Flick’s third act could be his most ruthless yet.