Barcelona starting lineup for friendly game vs UE Olot – Flick’s first XI

As part of Barcelona’s pre-season preparations, the management and administration have planned a training match against UE Olot later today.

In theory, the clash will be Hansi Flick’s first game as the manager of Barcelona. While indeed the coach is without some of the team’s main players, it will be interesting to see the dynamics he employs and the vision he has in place.

The game is set to kick off at 6:00 p.m. local time on Thursday and will take place at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper behind closed doors. Ahead of kickoff, Barcelona’s starting line-up for the game has been revealed by Gerard Romero.

Inaki Pena, who played a regular role under Xavi during the time of Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s injury last season, starts as the goalkeeper for the Blaugrana on the night.

Ahead of him in central defence are Inigo Martinez and 19-year-old academy star Sergi Dominguez.

Alejandro Balde makes his long-awaited return from injury to start at left-back. Julian Araujo, meanwhile, starts on the right side of defence and will look to prove his worth to the manager.

With most senior midfielders injured, Alexis Olmedo and Oriol Romeu appear to be starting as the double-pivot in a potential 4-2-3-1 setup.

Deployed in front of them in the advanced midfield line are prodigal cousin brothers Toni Fernandez and Guille Fernandez alongside Noah Darvich.

Vitor Roque, meanwhile, spearheads the attack as the team’s number 9.

On the bench, Flick has the likes of Hector Fort, Marc Bernal, Clement Lenglet, Pablo Torre, Quim Junyent, Alex Valle and the new first-team signing Pau Victor.