Confirmed: Barcelona starting lineup to face Elche CF | OneFootball

Barcelona have announced the starting lineup for their first match of the season against Elche CF this evening.

Head coach Hansi Flick had already made some headlines by leaving out Alejandro Balde, Marc Casado and Hector Fort from the initial squad list.

Now, for the season opener, the German has made some interesting calls with Xavi Espart notably receiving a start, as reported hours before the kickoff.

The youngster is expected to occupy the left-back role with new signing Joao Cancelo starting on the bench. Eric Garica starts at right-back, with Andreas Christensen and Gerard Martin operating in central defence.

In midfield, Marc Bernal gets an opportunity to start. He will play a key role in moderating the proceedings, alongside two attack minded partners in Gavi and Fermin Lopez.

Moving forward, Flick has decided to start new signing Karim Adeyemi as the false nine with support from Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.

Barcelona have an equally interesting bench, with Flick having the option to deploy another new signing Anthony Gordon in the second half.

Cancelo, Pedri and Jules Kounde are some of the other players who may receive some action after the interval.

It will be also interesting to see whether Flick tries out Hamza Abdelkarim, who has created quite the buzz and is an option to operate in the number nine role.