FC Barcelona Vs. Espanyol: Flick Makes Rotations

FC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick will make rotations in midfield and defence when his team hosts crosstown rivals Espanyol in Montjuic for a La Liga clash on Sunday.

With tragic flooding causing more than 200 deaths in the Valencia region, Flick showed a preference towards suspending the fixture in question at his prematch press conference on Saturday afternoon.

“It isn’t easy to make a decision about what to do. It already happened three years ago in Germany. We support all those affected but it is a matter of La Liga [to decide],” he said when first broached on the topic.

At another point of his sitdown before journalists and reporters, however, Flick was firmer when stating, “If I could make the decision, maybe I would do it because it is a tragedy for Valencia and for Spain as a whole,” with regards to calling off matches across the country.

As things stand, though, Barca will indeed take to the field at 16.15 local time, and Flick insisted he knows “what a Barca-Espanyol derby entails”.

“It will be a tough game, for sure. After a fantastic week, it’s important to be one hundred percent tomorrow, with intensity and maximum quality,” the German stressed.

Though he was tight-lipped on rotations, Flick has been expected to make them across three games in 12 days before the next international break, and will at least do so in midfield.

This means that Dani Olmo starts though neither Pedri nor Marc Casado are rested. Fermin Lopez – fresh off signing a new contract – loses his place.

The rest of the team almost looks identical to that which thrashed Bayern Munich and Real Madrid 4-1 and 0-4 respectively last week.

It finds Inaki Pena in the net protected by a back line of Alejandro Balde, Inigo Martinez, Pau Cubarsi but Jules Kounde is replaced by Hector Fort at right back.

While on the front line, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal continue to form one of club football’s deadliest attacking trios.

It will be interesting to see how many minutes substitute De Jong gets with an impressive 45 at the Bernabeu the most he has played this season.

At some point, Gavi might also enjoy more time on the pitch after three short cameos in Barca’s last three outings.

FC Barcelona Vs. Espanyol Starting XI: Pena; Balde, Inigo, Cubarsi, Fort; Casado, Pedri, Olmo; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Yamal