Barcelona are getting ready to face Valencia today, Sunday, at the Johan Cruyff Stadium in the fourth round of La Liga.
Before the match with Los Che, a negative sign has appeared that worries Barça fans. Barça come into this match with 7 points from 3 games (two wins and one draw), which puts them in fifth place. Valencia have 4 points from one win and one draw, sitting in 11th place.
Lamine Yamal and Frenkie de Jong miss Barcelona’s game with Valencia
The Catalan side want to win today to recover from the 1-1 draw against Rayo Vallecano in the third round. But the issue is that some key names are missing from the squad, especially Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong and Spanish winger Lamine Yamal, who are both out with injuries.
Barça have only played one match under Hansi Flick without both Yamal and De Jong. That match was in the 18th round of last season’s La Liga against Atlético Madrid.
Yamal missed the match through injury, while De Jong stayed on the bench without playing. Atlético Madrid won 2-1 at the Estadio Olímpico Lluís Companys. That result is seen as a bad sign as Barça now go into tonight’s game without both players again.
The loss to Atlético shocked Barça because it was their last game of 2024. But after that, the team started 2025 strongly with many wins and good results, which helped them claim the domestic treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Spanish Super Cup.
Yamal will not play today because of pelvic pain that got worse after he played for Spain against Bulgaria and Turkey earlier this month in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
De Jong picked up his injury while playing for the Netherlands. Coach Hansi Flick hopes both Yamal and De Jong recover quickly, as Barça face a busy run of matches in both La Liga and the Champions League in the coming weeks.