Hansi Flick's Tactical Tweaks for Barcelona's La Liga Season

On the eve of Barcelona’s La Liga season, Hansi Flick is almost done experimenting. Almost.

One final dress rehearsal remains – the Joan Gamper Trophy against Al Ahly later today – and the German coach is expected to send out a side that will look very close to the one that opens the league campaign against Elche.

The internationals are back, the academy contingent has been trimmed, and this morning’s light session featured new signing Rodri as the squad went through its last pre-Gamper routines. The real clues, though, came 24 hours earlier.

Flick redraws the map

Tuesday’s training game at the Ciutat Esportiva offered a clear glimpse of Flick’s selection plan, and it came with three notable positional tweaks: Jules Kounde, Raphinha and Brian Farinas all worked in roles that are not their usual homes. Crucially, they did so on different sides in the internal match, underlining that these were deliberate, specific tests rather than a single tactical experiment.

Kounde’s case is the most symbolic. Long touted internally as a centre-back – his original position – he has often been pushed wide in recent seasons. With Ronald Araujo now gone and Eric Garcia having convinced the new staff with his performances at right-back last season, that balance is shifting.

The consequence was visible on Tuesday: Kounde lined up in the middle of defence, used explicitly as a centre-back. It is a move the staff had already been weighing up, and Araujo’s departure has only strengthened that idea.

Alongside that, Xavi Espart continued his own adaptation. Just as in the friendly against FC Basel, the youngster operated in midfield during the session, reinforcing the notion that Flick sees him as an option in the engine room rather than further forward.

Then came perhaps the most surprising tweak. Farinas, a player who has never been used on the wing for Barça Atletic, was deployed as a full-back on the right side of Kounde. Flick wanted to see how the academy product coped with the demands of the flank, both defensively and in build-up.

The move also carried a clear message. The coach had previously floated Tommy Marques as a potential right-back solution; now Farinas has effectively stepped into that space in the squad, at least for this phase of pre-season.

Raphinha through the middle – again

Up front, Flick repeated an idea that is quickly becoming a genuine option rather than a one-off experiment: Raphinha as a No. 9.

As in the Basel friendly, the Brazilian worked as a centre-forward in Tuesday’s training match. In that earlier game he had operated in attack alongside Anthony Gordon, another player Flick has publicly identified as someone who can play through the middle.

On the opposite team in the internal game was Hamza Abdelkarim, who is preparing for an emotional night against his boyhood club and is expected to battle directly with Raphinha for the starting centre-forward spot in the Gamper.

The stakes are clear. Tonight’s XI against Al Ahly is not just about lifting a traditional curtain-raiser trophy in front of the home crowd. It is about Flick locking in his first competitive Barcelona lineup, with a strong chance that the structure – Kounde inside, Farinas at full-back, Raphinha leading the line – will be carried straight into that La Liga opener against Elche.