Barcelona’s German coach, Hans Flick, has announced the squad that will face Chelsea on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge, in a top-of-the-table clash in the fifth round of the Champions League.
The squad saw the continued absence of midfield star “Pedri González” due to his failure to recover from injury, while “Frenkie de Jong” returned after missing the Bilbao match.
“Raphinha” also continued to be present for the second game in a row after recovering from injury.
Barcelona’s squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: “Wojciech Szczęsny”, “Juan Garcia”, “Diego Kochen”.
Defense: “Eric Garcia”, “Ronald Araújo”, “Gerard Martin”, “Alejandro Balde”, “Jules Koundé”, “Pau Cubarsí”, “Andreas Christensen”.
Midfield: “Dani Olmo”, “Marc Casadó”, “Dru Fernández”, “Marc Bernal”, “Frenkie de Jong”, “Fermin López”.
Attack: “Raphinha”, “Lamine Yamal”, “Marcus Rashford”, “Rony Bardghji”, “Robert Lewandowski”, “Ferran Torres”.
“Pedri” suffered a hamstring injury since the end of last October, after the Clasico match at the Santiago Bernabéu, and is currently in the final stage of recovery, but the coaching staff prefers to avoid any risk in this crucial period of the season.
Spanish full-back “Alejandro Balde” has also become available after leaving the field in the first half of Saturday’s match against Athletic Bilbao.
Coach Flick maintained the usual training program this season, with the team training in the morning in Barcelona before traveling in the evening after lunch at the sports city, with the press conference for the players and the coaching staff postponed to the match stadium, Stamford Bridge.
The Catalan team is scheduled to travel to London today at 15:45 local time, with Flick and Raphinha holding the official pre-match press conference at 19:45 Spanish time, and the coach is expected to talk about the return of “De Jong” and “Rashford”, in addition to other topics.
Barcelona arrive in London in high spirits after the positive results the team has achieved in recent weeks, with the return of some key players, but they realize that facing Chelsea requires the best performance from the Catalan team.
A story of meteoric rise
“Pedro González López”, known as “Pedri”, is considered one of the most prominent rising football talents in the world, and has attracted attention with his calm style and insightful vision in midfield.
At a very young age, the Spanish player managed to establish himself as a key player in the squad of FC Barcelona and the Spanish national team, becoming a symbol of the new generation in the world of football.
Origins and the beginning of the career
“Pedri” was born on November 25, 2002 in Tegueste, Canary Islands, and grew up in a football-loving environment.
“Pedri” started playing the game at a young age, and quickly attracted attention with his natural talent, joining the academy of Las Palmas in May 2018, where his true football level matured.
The club’s coaches realized the value of the talent they possessed, and coach “Pepe Mel” promoted him to the first team when he was only sixteen years old.
“Pedri” played his first professional match on August 18, 2019, becoming the youngest player to participate with the team in the Spanish Second Division at that time.
Move to Barcelona and the big explosion
On September 2, 2019, FC Barcelona reached an agreement with Las Palmas to sign “Pedri”, in a deal estimated at a maximum value of approximately 22 million euros (including variables), to officially join the Catalan team in 2020.
“Pedri” did not need a long time to adapt to Barcelona’s style of play, known for the “tiki-taka” philosophy. Under the leadership of coach Ronald Koeman at the beginning, “Pedri” became an indispensable key player in his first season, and gave a mature performance far beyond his age.
“Pedri” was distinguished by his ability to dribble, accurate passes, insightful vision in playmaking, and the great effort he makes on the field, which made him compared to the club legend Andrés Iniesta.
Individual and collective achievements and titles
Despite his young age, “Pedri” has achieved a record full of achievements with Barcelona and the Spanish national team. He has won 6 titles with Barcelona so far, most notably two titles in the Spanish League (2022/23, 2024/25), two titles in the Spanish King’s Cup (2020/21, 2024/25) and two titles in the Spanish Super Cup.
On an individual level, “Pedri” has received wide international recognition. In 2021, he won the “Golden Boy” award for the best young player in Europe, and the “Kopa” award from France Football magazine. He was also chosen as part of the ideal squad for the 2020 European Championship (which was held in 2021) and received the award for the best young player in the tournament.
International career and physical challenges
“Pedri” participated in all of Spain’s matches in Euro 2020, and contributed to the team’s reaching the semi-finals. Shortly thereafter, he was part of the Olympic team that won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and also won the Euro 2024 title with Spain.
Despite the physical challenges, “Pedri” remains a pivotal element in the coaches’ plans, and is considered one of the best midfielders in the world thanks to his football intelligence and ability to control the rhythm of the game.
