{"id":74261,"date":"2026-08-22T16:32:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T16:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/74261\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T16:32:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T16:32:37","slug":"elche-vs-barcelona-la-liga-prediction-team-news-lineups-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/74261\/","title":{"rendered":"Elche vs Barcelona: La Liga \u2013 prediction, team news, lineups | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who: Elche vs Barcelona
What: Spanish football\u2019s La Liga<\/a>
Where: Manuel Martinez Valero Stadium, Elche, Spain
When: Sunday, August 23, at 9:30pm (19:30 GMT)
How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up from 16:30 GMT ahead of our live text commentary stream<\/p>\n

Hansi Flick\u2019s second season at Barcelona built on the success of his first, with the German coach guiding the Catalan giants to a second straight La Liga title.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

His third campaign, however, brings significant structural changes to the team as Barcelona look to maintain their domestic dominance and handle the threat of Jose Mourinho\u2019s Real Madrid, while aiming to end their wait for Champions League glory.<\/p>\n

Barca begin their campaign at Elche on Sunday in the Spanish top flight, a day after Mourinho\u2019s Los Blancos visit Espanyol in the Catalan capital.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at the start of the La Liga defence.<\/p>\n

What changes have Barcelona made?<\/p>\n

The arrival of Rodri from Manchester City is Barca\u2019s most significant addition, while the departures of veteran striker Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres<\/a> leave Flick with a reshaped attacking unit.<\/p>\n

Barcelona have been prolific going forward but vulnerable at the back since Flick arrived in 2024, and the club hopes the arrival of World Cup winner Rodri<\/a> can help address the latter.<\/p>\n

The Spain captain was a market opportunity Barcelona were reluctant to pass up, particularly with Real Madrid also linked with the 30-year-old holding midfielder before his move to Catalonia.<\/p>\n

Rodri brings not only control and defensive protection but also the experience of winning the biggest trophies in club football, qualities Barcelona hope can help them claim a first European crown since 2015.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to compete for everything, for big things like the Champions League,\u201d said Rodri after his presentation.<\/p>\n

Former Germany and Bayern boss Flick will also have to rebuild an attack that has been one of the team\u2019s greatest strengths.<\/p>\n

New arrivals Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi appear well-suited to the German\u2019s high-intensity approach, with both offering the pace and work rate required to lead Barcelona\u2019s aggressive pressing game.<\/p>\n

How will Barcelona solve their case of the missing striker?<\/p>\n

The key question for Barcelona is whether sporting director Deco can land a centre-forward before the transfer window closes.<\/p>\n

Barca\u2019s attempt to sign Julian Alvarez splintered on the rocks of Atletico Madrid\u2019s resolve, leaving Flick without an obvious replacement for Lewandowski.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Ferran did we can cover with the signings, but what Robert did is more difficult,\u201d said Deco.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have internal solutions, but we will make another move; we\u2019ll try and find the best solution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barcelona could opt for a cheaper attacker and preserve their spending power for next summer, particularly after making pricey moves for Rodri and Gordon.<\/p>\n

Dani Olmo, Raphinha, Gordon and Adeyemi can all operate as false nines, giving Flick different ways to compensate for the absence of a traditional striker, if the club does not get a deal over the line.<\/p>\n

\"Barcelona\u2019sBarcelona\u2019s Raphinha lifts the Joan Gamper trophy as the teammates celebrate after beating Al Ahly in the club\u2019s final preseason friendly [File: Bruna Casas\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Above all, Barcelona will hope teenage sensation Lamine Yamal can remain in his extraordinary form and enjoy a full season at the top of his game after injuries and other concerns disrupted the early months of his previous campaign.<\/p>\n

At just 19, Yamal is already the crucial figure in Barcelona\u2019s attack and the player around whom the club\u2019s ambitions are built.<\/p>\n

If Rodri can provide greater stability behind him and Flick finds enough goals across a reshaped attack, Barcelona have the tools they need to retain their Liga crown.<\/p>\n

Flick did not reveal who would start up front at Elche but praised the preseason form of Egyptian youngster Hamza Abdelkarim, after the 18-year-old notched four goals in friendlies.<\/p>\n

\u201cHamza is having a really great preseason,\u201d said Flick.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a number nine, he\u2019s young, and he has a lot of potential, and also he scored goals. This is the important thing when you\u2019re playing in this position, and he made a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happened the last time Elche played Barcelona?<\/p>\n

Barcelona won 3-1 at the Martinez Valero in La Liga in January, with Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford scoring for the visitors.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

The Opta supercomputer makes Barcelona strong favourites, giving Hansi Flick\u2019s side a 68 percent chance of winning, compared with 14 percent for Elche.<\/p>\n

Head-to-head<\/p>\n

This will be the 57th competitive meeting between the clubs. Barcelona have won 36 of the previous encounters, with Elche winning on nine occasions.<\/p>\n

Elche team news<\/p>\n

Elche will be without Adam Boayar and Yago Santiago due to injury.<\/p>\n

Martin Anselmi\u2019s side drew 1-1 with Deportivo on the opening weekend and are expected to retain a three-man defence against Barca.<\/p>\n

Elche predicted starting lineup<\/p>\n

Dituro; Chust, Redondo, Affengruber; Sangare, Villar, Aguado, Valera; Houary, Nino, Cepeda<\/p>\n

Barcelona team news<\/p>\n

Rodri will miss the match, but the former Manchester City midfielder may be able to take part in their second match, against Athletic Bilbao, on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very concentrated, focused. Our plan is that he will arrive on Monday with the team,\u201d Flick told reporters on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Frenkie de Jong remains out, while Roony Bardghji is also unavailable due to a cruciate ligament injury.<\/p>\n

Flick, however, said full-back Joao Cancelo, signed this week, could feature.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s ready to play. He has unbelievable technique and a lot of passion,\u201d added Flick.<\/p>\n

Barcelona predicted starting lineup<\/p>\n

J Garcia; E Garcia, Kounde, Martin, Balde; Pedri, Bernal; Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha; Abdelkarim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who: Elche vs BarcelonaWhat: Spanish football\u2019s La LigaWhere: Manuel Martinez Valero Stadium, Elche, SpainWhen: Sunday, August 23, at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,66,313,273,17,314],"class_list":["post-74261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}