Barcelona will begin their preparations for the 2022-23 campaign with a pre-season friendly against Spanish fourth-tier outfit Olot on Wednesday night.
Xavi’s side are building towards their La Liga opener at home to Rayo Vallecano on August 13, and it has already been a busy summer for the club in terms of incomings and outgoings.
Olot played in the Tercera Division RFEF – Group 5 last season, which is the fifth tier of the Spanish league system, but they will be in the fourth tier for 2022-23 following their promotion.
Manix Mandiola’s side had dropped into the fifth tier following their relegation in 2020-21, but they have managed to earn promotion back to the Segunda Division RFEF at the first time of asking.
The Catalan outfit have been extremely busy this summer in terms of incomings, with Ernest Forgas, Gonzalo Pereira and Sebas Coris among those to arrive at the club on free transfers.
Barcelona officially Squad vs Olot
Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Iñaki Peña
Defenders: 2. Sergiño Dest, 4. Mika Mármol, 15. Chadi Riad, 18. Alejandro Balde, 22. Àlex Valle, 25. Arnau Casas.
Midfielders: 5. Franck Kessie, 6. Miralem Pjanic, 7. Álex Collado, 8. Pedri, 14. Nico González, 16. Pablo Torre, 21. Marc Casadó, 24. Antonio Aranda
Forwards: 10. Ansu Fati, 11. Ez Abde, 12. Fabio Blanco, 17. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, 23. Ilias Akhomach.
With the squad having only been together for a little over a week and 12 players having just returned from vacation after international commitments in June, it is understandable that the first squad list of preseason has quite a few names that fans won’t instantly recognize. A total of 11 players from Barça Atlétic and the under-19s are called up for this one, including the very exciting Pablo Torre who has a chance to be the new Pedri or Gavi and make an improbable rise to first team stardom if he can shine in preseason.
Other names of note include Dest and Pedri, back after missing the end of last season through injury, Ansu Fati who is hoping for an injury-free preseason to go into the new campaign at 100%, and new signing Franck Kessie who has impressed in training and is ready to contribute right away.
As for the absences, it’s quite the list: Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Samuel Umtiti, Eric García, Óscar Mingueza, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Frenkie De Jong, Gavi, Martin Braithwaite and Memphis Depay have just returned from vacation and miss out for this one, while Ferran Torres has a minor foot injury and Gerard Piqué isn’t fully fit to take part just yet.
Watch Live match below:
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
