Joan Garcia, Fermin start in a 4-2-3-1 – How Barcelona can line up against Mallorca | OneFootball

After an impressive pre-season, Barcelona are set to kickstart their 2025/26 campaign tomorrow evening as they take on RCD Mallorca at Son Moix.

This will be the first of three back-to-back away matches for Barcelona, who are working around the clock to get the Camp Nou match-ready by Matchday 4 in September.

Barcelona are coming on the back of a delightful pre-season campaign that saw the club unearth a few more young talents, while the squad harmony remains positive as ever.

While the sudden departure of Inigo Martinez and the injury of Robert Lewandowski have impacted the morale, Barcelona can be fairly confident about their chances of starting the season with three points.

Here, at Barça Universal, we will take a look at the potential starting eleven that could be fielded by Flick in the club’s first game of the new season.

Defence

Reports strongly suggest that Barcelona have secured the registration of new signing Joan Garcia, and it could become official soon.

The former Espanyol star, therefore, is poised to make his professional debut for Barcelona by starting in between the sticks.

Elsewhere in defence, Flick had notably started Eric Garcia in the Joan Gamper trophy match. But the former Man City star is likely to return to the bench, paving the way for Jules Kounde to start at right-back.

Jules Kounde is expected to start against Mallorca (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Alejandro Balde will occupy the opposite flank, supporting the central defensive duo of Ronald Araujo and Pau Cubarsi.

Midfield

Things get more interesting in midfield, with Flick facing a major selection dilemma going into the new season.

Pedri, after all, is the only guaranteed starter in midfield right now, and there is much competition for the two other places.

One would expect Frenkie de Jong to retain his place in the starting eleven, with Fermin Lopez likely getting the nod ahead of Dani Olmo and Gavi in the attacking midfield position.

However, it won’t be surprising to see Flick utilising the talents of Gavi and Olmo later in the game, especially considering the way the former has performed this pre-season.

Attack

While Garcia’s registration should be official anytime, Barcelona are yet to register their other new signing in Marcus Rashford.

Although the club remain confident, things may go down to the wire. In any case, Rashford wasn’t expected to start against Mallorca this weekend.

Marcus Rashford remains a doubt vs Mallorca due to registration uncertainty (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

With Lewandowski injured, the onus of spearheading the Barcelona frontline will fall upon Ferran Torres, who scored a lot of goals last season as the club’s backup striker.

With Lewandowski not getting any younger, Ferran has an excellent opportunity to prove himself this season.

Nevertheless, the former Manchester City star will be accompanied by the attacking duo of Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, two of Barcelona’s strongest Ballon d’Or candidates ahead of next month’s gala.

On the bench

As mentioned earlier, Flick may have some exciting options on the bench as well, including Eric Garcia and Andreas Christensen in the defensive unit.

In midfield, the likes of Gavi, Dani Olmo and even Marc Casado could be called into action in the second half, whereas Rashford could be a strong option in attack, provided the Englishman gets registered in time.