Just a week away from their first competitive fixture of the 2026–27 campaign, Barcelona take on Swiss side Basel in their penultimate preseason friendly.
La Blaugrana kicked off the summer by thrashing Catalan minnows CE Europa behind closed doors, before journeying to England for a 2–2 draw with Tom Brady’s Birmingham City. Last weekend saw them take on Nottingham Forest and Udinese in quick succession, beating the former 1–0 before losing to the latter by the same scoreline.
The new La Liga campaign has already kicked off, but Barcelona have been given extra preparation time after so many of their first-team stars were involved in the latter stages of the World Cup. That means they can squeeze in two more warmup games, starting against Basel before the Joan Gamper Trophy match with Egyptian side Al Ahly on Wednesday.
Hansi Flick has welcomed back the last returnees from their holidays, including his large cohort of Spanish World Cup winners. They could feature in some capacity, as will several young guns alongside a host of more experienced heads.
Barça are still yet to reach full match sharpness with their first competitive game fast approaching, but the trip to Switzerland offers them another chance to get minutes in the legs of the first-team stars who traveled to the World Cup earlier this summer.
Raphinha, who scored the winning goal against Forest last weekend, will be joined by some other big names, and they will expect to clinch victory against a Basel side which has already played four competitive fixtures this term.
The hosts were in action in the Swiss Cup on Saturday, beating minnows FC Courtételle 6–1, but they still named a raft of starters for a routine win. That means their coach, ex-Arsenal defender Stephan Lichtsteiner, has some decisions to make over which players will feature against Barça.
Regardless, the reigning La Liga champions should come out on top, even if their performance is unlikely to be perfect.
