FC Barcelona (1st, 9pts) vs Real Valladolid CF (11th, 4pts)
Competition/Round: 2024-25 The LeagueMatchday 4
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Ronald Araujo, Gavi, Ansu Fati, Andreas Christensen, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Bernal (out), Eric García (doubt)
Valladolid Outs & Doubts: Anuar (doubt)
Date/Time: Saturday, August 31, 2024, 5pm CET (Barcelona), 4pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 11am ET, 8am PT (USA), 8.30pm IST (India)
Venue: Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium, MontjuïcBarcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Isidro Diaz de Mera Squires
WAS: Charles of the Great Hill
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), TSN 2 (Canada), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), LaLigaTV (UK), GXR World (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a third consecutive 2-1 win to begin the season, this time coming from behind away to Rayo Vallecano in midweek, Barcelona return home for the final game before the first international break of the season as the The League leaders welcome newly-promoted Real Valladolid to the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Barça come into this one as the only perfect team in the land, winning all three of their opening games against teams that always cause them problems and with excellent tactics, great resilience and a lot of quality all over the pitch. Hansi Flick’s coaching is clearly working, the vibes are immaculate, and Barça fans are dreaming of a fun season.
That’s even considering all the bad news such as an incredibly underwhelming summer transfer window that promised the much-awaited return to the 1:1 spending rule and the arrival of Nico Williams but ended with Ilkay Gündogan deciding to leave simply to help the club’s finances and Dani Olmo only being registered because of Andreas Christensen’s injury.
There’s also the never-ending nightmare of Frenkie de Jong’s injury, Gavi still looking a couple of months away from being ready, and the heartbreaking torn ACL suffered by breakout star Marc Bernal. Despite all that, the product on the pitch is so impressive and encouraging that Barça fans are still incredibly positive and looking forward to the months ahead.
If they can finish the first month of the season with a 100% record before things get really busy with the start of the Champions League, there will be a high level of confidence amongst the team and the fanbase as they embark upon a new continental journey while still trying to compete in the league.
And it’s safe to say given their form that Barça are big favorites to win on Saturday, but it doesn’t mean it’ll be automatically easy. Valladolid are back in The League after a year away and have a solid team that showed against Real Madrid a couple of weeks ago that they can make it very tough for a big side, even if they’re the underdogs on the road.
Valladolid didn’t concede in the first half and were trailing by only one goal until the 88th minute in that match, and showed good organization and a few signs of counter-attacking prowess that could have caused Madrid big problems on another night.
Despite their perfect record so far Barça have had their ups and downs in all three matches, especially in the first 10 minutes against Rayo. Flick warned his team in his Friday press conference about the risks of being slow starters, and it’ll be interesting to watch if the team comes out with more urgency and intensity after being called out publicly by the boss.
Barça shouldn’t need to work too hard to earn and maintain a lead, but they need to play well and hard from the get-go so hopefully the likes of Pedri and Lamine Yamal can get a few extra minutes of rest before they go into Spain duty again. Valladolid will look to frustrate Barça from the start, and it’s up to the home team to be poised and play their football to earn all three points again — hopefully with a different, more comfortable scoreline.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsi, Iñigo, Balde; Casadó, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Valladolid (4-3-3): Wait; L. Pérez, Jomert, J. Sánchez, Rosa; Meseguer, Juric, C. Pérez; I. Sánchez, Sylla, Ndiaye
PREDICTION
Valladolid kept it close at the Bernabéu until the very end with a well-organized defense, and they’ll employ a similar strategy looking to frustrate Barça. This might not be high-scoring or super exciting for that reason, but I believe in the good guys: 2-0 to the home team, a first clean sheet of the season, and a perfect first month.
