FC Barcelona (1st, 9 points) vs Real Valladolid CF (11th, 4 points)

Competition/Round: 2024-25 The LeagueMatchday 4

Barcelona Results & Doubts: Ronald Araujo, Gavi, Ansu Fati, Andreas Christensen, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Bernal (away), Eric García (doubtful)

Valladolid Challenges & Doubts: Anuar (doubt)

Date/Time: Saturday, August 31, 2024, 5:00 PM CET (Barcelona), 4:00 PM BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 11:00 AM ET, 8:00 AM PT (US), 8:30 PM IST (India)

Location: Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, MontjuïcBarcelona, ​​Catalonia, Spain

Referee: Isidro Diaz de Mera Escuderos

VAR: Carlos del Cerro Grande

How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), TSN 2 (Canada), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others

How to watch online: ESPN+ (US), LaLigaTV (UK), GXR World (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others

After a third consecutive 2-1 win to start the season, this time coming from behind at Rayo Vallecano in midweek, Barcelona return home for their final match before the first international break of the season. The League leaders welcome recently promoted Real Valladolid to the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Barça enter this match as the only perfect team in the country, having won all three of their opening games against teams that always give them problems and with excellent tactics, great resilience and a lot of quality all over the pitch. Hansi Flick’s coaching is clearly working, the vibes are impeccable and Barça fans are dreaming of a fun season.

And that’s without even mentioning all the bad news, such as the hugely disappointing summer transfer window that promised the long-awaited return to the 1:1 spending rule and the arrival of Nico Williams, but ended with Ilkay Gundogan deciding to leave in order to help the club financially, and Dani Olmo only being registered due to Andreas Christensen’s injury.

There’s also the never-ending nightmare of Frenkie de Jong getting injured, Gavi seemingly still months away from being ready, and the heartbreaking cruciate ligament rupture suffered by star player Marc Bernal. Despite all that, the product on the pitch has been so impressive and encouraging that Barça fans are still incredibly positive and looking forward to the months ahead.

If they can finish the first month of the season with a 100% score before the Champions League kicks off in earnest, it will inspire a lot of confidence in the team and the fans as they embark on a new continental adventure and still try to compete in the competition.

And it’s safe to say that Barça are the big favorites to win on Saturday given their form, but that doesn’t mean it will automatically be easy. Valladolid are back in The League after a year away and have a solid team that showed a few weeks ago against Real Madrid that they can give a big team a hard time, even when they are the underdogs away from home.

Valladolid did not concede a single goal in the first half and were only one goal behind until the 88th minute of that match, and showed good organisation and some signs of counter-attacking talent that could have caused Madrid serious problems on another night.

Despite their perfect record so far, Barça have had their ups and downs in all three games, particularly in the opening 10 minutes against Rayo. Flick warned his team about the risks of slow starters in his press conference on Friday, and it will be interesting to see whether the team can come out with more urgency and intensity after being publicly berated by the boss.

Barca shouldn’t have to work too hard to earn and maintain a lead, but they need to play well and hard from the start so that players like Pedri and Lamine Yamal can hopefully get a few extra minutes of rest before they play in Spain again. Valladolid will be looking to frustrate Barca from the start, and it will be up to the home side to stay calm and play their football to earn all three points again – hopefully with a different, more comfortable scoreline.

Let’s dance.

POSSIBLE SETUP

Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Balde; Casado, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski

Valladolid (4-3-3):Hein; L. Pérez, Cömert, J. Sánchez, Rosa; Meseguer, Juric, K. Perez; I. Sánchez, Sylla, Ndiaye

PREDICTION

Valladolid kept it exciting at the Bernabeu until the end with a well-organized defense, and they will use a similar strategy to frustrate Barça. This may not be a high-scoring or super exciting game for that reason, but I believe in the good guys: 2-0 to the home team, a first clean sheet of the season and a perfect first month.