Flick's 11-Day Challenge to Shape Barça Before La Liga

Hansi Flick’s first real race against time at FC Barcelona has begun.

With the club’s World Cup contingent returning late, Barça and arch-rivals Real Madrid will not start the 2026/2027 La Liga season until a week after most of the division. It buys Flick a sliver of breathing space, nothing more.

Real Madrid head to Barcelona to face Espanyol on August 22. The next night, Flick’s side open their campaign away at Elche. That gives the German coach roughly 11 days to turn a fragmented group into something resembling his team.

Some of his biggest names are only just filtering back. Lamine Yamal and Pedri, central to any blueprint Flick draws up, need sharpness and rhythm, not just fitness. The clock is loud.

Others from Luis de la Fuente’s Spain squad have already thrown themselves into the grind.

Gavi was the first through the door at the training ground. He started Spain’s opening 0-0 draw with Cabo Verde in Group H at the World Cup, then saw his starting role on the left wing handed to Atletico Madrid’s Alex Baena for the rest of the tournament. That setback has left him with a point to prove, and he has wasted no time getting to work.

Eric Garcia and goalkeeper Joan Garcia reported back on August 9, joined by Anthony Gordon and Jules Kounde. Both Gordon and Kounde went deep into the competition in North America, reaching the semifinals with England and France respectively.

Their World Cup ended in a wild third-place playoff, the kind of game that leaves legs heavy and minds buzzing. England’s Three Lions edged France 6-4, driven by a Bukayo Saka hat trick, with Gordon and Kounde on opposite sides of the chaos.

Now Kounde faces a very different challenge. His grip on the right-back spot is under real pressure from within the club. Xavi Espart, a 2007 La Masia graduate, is pushing hard and could threaten the Frenchman’s place this season.

Flick has his stars back, his schedule set, and his first selection dilemmas already forming. Eleven days to decide who sets the tone for a new era.