Hansi Flick revealed Rodri will make his Barcelona debut on Thursday against Athletic Club, as he expressed his excitement at the prospect of seeing the midfielder feature alongside Pedri.

Rodri was Barca's marquee signing this summer, joining for a reported €76.5m (£65.4m) from Manchester City after a stellar World Cup campaign.

The 30-year-old captained Spain to their second World Cup triumph, while he also won the Golden Ball award at the tournament.

Pedri also featured for La Roja this summer, but lost his place in Luis de la Fuente's starting line-up to Paris Saint-Germain's Fabian Ruiz.

Nevertheless, both Rodri and Pedri are set to line up together for Barca against Athletic, with Flick looking forward to their midfield partnership.

"The plan is for him to play a few minutes," Flick said when asked if Rodri would make his Barca debut.

"Rodri has more experience and is a true leader. With Pedri, we'll be able to control the game and possession.

"Against Elche, we lost the ball too quickly, and when Pedri came on, the game changed. We controlled possession much more, and that's what we need.

"Rodri is one of the best, and we'll see what he and Pedri can do together. I'm eager to see them play together at Barca. They'll be at a top level."

Barca's interest in Julian Alvarez has also reignited over the last week, with club president Joan Laporta reiterating their desire to bring the Argentine forward to Camp Nou.

Flick refused to be drawn into the transfer saga, with Atletico Madrid once again voicing their displeasure at Barca's approach to the transfer.

"I don't want to talk about Julian; I want to talk about the club's situation," added Flick.

"We've made some very good signings. The club needs to think about the future. As the coach, I demand the best and more, but then it might work out or it might not.

"I have confidence in the team, and we'll have to manage things, find solutions for some matches. But our quality is enormous."

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Barcelona – Raphinha

Barca are the only team across Europe's top five leagues to have more than one player score 15 or more goals in all competitions in 2026 (Raphinha – 16 goals and Lamine Yamal – 15 goals).

Raphinha starred in Barca's 5-0 win over Elche last time out, scoring twice while also assisting Karim Adeyemi.

Athletic Club – Nico Williams

Barcelona are the side Nico Williams has faced the most times in LaLiga without being involved in a single goal (eight, level with Real Betis) and the only opponent against whom he has not won in the competition (D1 L7), along with Granada (P4 D3 L1).


Barca have won each of their last 19 home games in LaLiga, since a 2-3 defeat to Villarreal in May 2025, their longest home winning streak with the same manager in the competition since 21 games between 1973 and 1974 under Rinus Michels.

The Blaugrana are unbeaten in their last 24 home LaLiga games against Athletic (W21 D3), winning the last seven; this is their longest unbeaten run at home against the Basque side in the top-flight – their last home defeat against them in LaLiga was in November 2001 (1-2).

Athletic, meanwhile, have not won any of their last five LaLiga matches (D1 L4) and have only picked up points in one of their last six away games in the competition (W1 L5), conceding at least two goals in each of those six away trips.

Following the 1-3 defeat against Sevilla in their first game of the season, Athletic boss Edin Terzic could become the first coach to lose his opening two LaLiga matches since Ernesto Valverde in the 2003-04 campaign.

Barca have kept the most clean sheets in LaLiga in 2026 among teams present in the competition in the last two seasons (10), while Athletic have kept the fewest (one, level with Villarreal).