Barcelona predicted XI vs. Elche with Gordon beaten to start by another debutant | OneFootball

Barcelona begin their La Liga title defence and quest for three in a row with a trip to face Elche on Sunday evening.

After beating Al Ahly for the Gamper Trophy in their last pre-season match, it’s back to business for Barca. Their main title rivals, Real Madrid, marked their return to action with a 2-1 win over Espanyol on Saturday and now it’s over to Hansi Flick’s side to respond.

New signings Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi will be eyeing a place in the starting lineup in attack, but keep an eye out for the 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim as well after he made a name for himself in pre-season.

One of Barca’s more recent signings, Rodri, is not in contention to play. The Spanish midfielder has missed training in the build-up to the match, so isn’t in the matchday squad.

Fellow newcomer Joao Cancelo is still working his way back up to match fitness as well, but Alejandro Balde has been ruled out of the squad, so he may have to jump straight in at left-back.

If Cancelo can’t start, a potential young debutant (along with Abdelkarim) is Jordi Pesquer, a 17-year-old left-back who could be an emergency option.

However, Flick could just as easily turn to Gerard Martin, who’s an option to play at centre-back or on the left of defence. Some expect him to play at centre-back in this game, but he might have to play wider given Barca’s availability issues.

Frenkie de Jong will be another absentee for the foreseeable due to a knee injury.

There are also doubts over the fitness levels of Pau Cubarsi, Pedri, Gavi and Dani Olmo. They are all in the squad, but might not start, so Barca could look quite different from their usual strongest lineup.

They will be hoping to still have enough to see off Elche, though. Their opponents have already played once this season, and that was a draw with newly promoted Deportivo. Last season, they finished 15th.

The match kicks off at 9:30pm local time (8:30pm in the UK). Here’s how we think Barca could line up.

Barcelona predicted XI v Elche