Barcelona go to Valencia on Sunday with a perfect league record still intact, but Hansi Flick is already trying to solve two matches at once. One is at Mestalla in La Liga. The other comes on Wednesday, when Barcelona open their Champions League campaign at home to Feyenoord.
That is why the search around Valencia Vs Barcelona is not just about form. Barcelona have won their first three league matches, beating Athletic Club, Elche and Rayo Vallecano, while Valencia have taken one point from nine and have scored only once in three outings. On paper, the gap is plain. On the schedule, the squeeze is tighter.
Barcelona’s recent record against Valencia still points one way. Before last season’s final-day defeat at Mestalla, when the title had already been secured, Barcelona had won five matches in a row against Valencia, scoring 24 goals and conceding four. That run explains why Sunday feels like a test of momentum rather than a true coin flip, even if the venue carries a memory Barcelona would rather leave behind.
The selection questions are concentrated in defense. Eric García kept clean sheets against Elche and Athletic Club before dropping to the bench after Rayo Vallecano, while Andreas Christensen is competing with Gerard Martín for a place as Pau Cubarsí’s partner. Xavi Espart has also made a case for himself by impressing in a range of roles early in the season, and his first senior assist against Rayo Vallecano showed why he is being talked about as more than a fill-in. That matters because he offers Flick flexibility without forcing a complete reshuffle.
The logic is simple. If Flick wants the safest option against Valencia, he can lean toward continuity. If he wants the freshest legs for Wednesday, he can protect key defenders now and accept a little more risk at Mestalla. Xavi Espart’s early-season form is part of that calculation because he has handled different jobs without looking out of place, which gives Barcelona another route if Flick decides the match load is too much for a settled back line.
Barcelona do not need a warning that Valencia can still make this awkward; they already learned that on the final day of last season. But the broader picture still favours Barcelona, and Sunday is set up as a chance to keep the start perfect and go into the Champions League opener with the league done for the week and the pressure reduced rather than amplified.
