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Barcelona’s first midweek league match of the season sees them travel to Asturias to take on new boys Real Oviedo.

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By Neel Shelat

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Barcelona’s first visit to Oviedo in 24 years

Real Oviedo spent close to a quarter of a century outside the Spanish top-flight following their relegation from LaLiga in 2001, quite literally bouncing back from the brink of death before eventually winning the Segunda División promotion play-offs last term.

As a result, this will be the first time Oviedo host FC Barcelona in 24 years. A brace from Patrick Kluivert powered the Blaugrana to a 2-3 win on that occasion, but Oviedo were the winners in each of their previous three home head-to-heads.

Lamine Yamal likely to remain sidelined

Lamine Yamal must be raring to go again a couple of days after finishing second in the Ballon d’Or rankings and winning the Kopa trophy, but he missed the last training session prior to the match and is expected to remain unavailable. Fermín López and Gavi also suffered recent injury blows, while Alejandro Balde and Marc-André ter Stegen are still on the absence list as well.

Ferran Torres on fire

Robert Lewandowski is fit and firing for Barcelona again, but Ferran Torres has been the team’s top goal scorer in the early weeks of the season. The ex-Valencia forward doubled his tally with a brace against Getafe on the weekend, showing great scoring instincts both as a main or second striker.

He also scored 14 goals across all club competitions in the second half of the 2024/25 season following the turn of the year, so he has really stepped up to the mantle in Barcelona’s hour of need.

Given Lewandowski’s age and recent return from injury, the 25-year-old Spaniard may well get another chance to lead the line this week.

Wing attacks the key for Real Oviedo

No team in the world can reasonably hope to completely shut out Barcelona even for 90 minutes, so all of their opponents have to come up with a counterattacking plan before taking them. Based on their work early on in the season, Real Oviedo will likely look to deal their damage down the wings.

Veljko Paunović’s side have focused less than a quarter of their attacks down the centre so far this season. Their main striker, 36-year-old Salomón Rondón, is not the most mobile of players, so he operates as more of a target forward. Out wide, the likes of Haissem Hassan and Ilyas Chaira pose more of a dribbling threat, so they will be tasked with getting the ball up the pitch. Against a somewhat depleted Barcelona back line, they might just find a bit of joy.

Prediction

Regardless of how much they rotate the side, Barcelona will surely be overwhelming favourites in this game. They should manage to come away with a comfortable win and take Real Oviedo’s record to five losses in six matches this season.

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(Cover image from IMAGO)

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While renovation work continues at Camp Nou, Barcelona will not play a home game until after the first international break of the season. So, they are on the road again for the second matchday in LaLiga, this time to face newly-promoted Levante.

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By Neel Shelat

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Registration issues remain for Barcelona

Once again, it was not all smooth sailing for Barcelona in the summer transfer window. Despite parting ways with as many as 10 players and only making two permanent signings in addition to a loan deal, they are yet to register all of their squad members. Summer signings Joan García and Marcus Rashford were barely registered in the nick of time for the season opener, only after all the issues around Marc-André ter Stegen’s injury were resolved. A few players will still have to stay in the stands, including Gerard Martín and Marc Bernal.

Elsewhere, uncertainty continues to surround the Blaugrana’s ever-delayed plans of returning to Camp Nou. The club reportedly signed an agreement to keep the Olympic Stadium in Montjuïc available to them until February, though playing there would have some negative financial ramifications. Cost-cutting at the club has continued, with the women’s team facing significant departures through no fault of their own.

Levante adapting to survival bid

Like almost all newly-promoted teams in any league, Julián Calero’s Levante look prepared to change their approach as they transition from being one of the strongest teams in their division to now competing at the other end of the table. The Segunda División holders might not have to make a lot of stylistic changes as they finished the last season with a possession average of less than 50%, but their LaLiga opener (a 2-1 defeat at Alavés) indicated a shift from a four-player defence to a back five.

Barcelona hoping for another comfortable win

Keeping all the off-field issues aside, Barcelona could not have asked for a much more straightforward start to the season than their 3-0 win over Mallorca. The Spanish champions opened the scoring within seven minutes, going on to add a second around the midway point of the first half. They were also two players to the good before half time as their hosts received two red cards, making it extremely easy for them to see out the win.

Although they are not yet in the busiest part of the season, these less taxing days at the office will be very valuable for a squad that is already relatively thin in many places.

Levante’s impressive home record

Levante will back themselves to put up a better fight than Mallorca, and they can take some heart from their recent home record. The Granotes are unbeaten at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia since early February in a run that spans nine competitive fixtures. They have not done half badly when hosting Barcelona in recent times either, winning half of the last six games.

Prediction

Barcelona should have enough quality to overpower their newly-promoted opponents, so another three-goal win could well be in the offing.

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(Cover image from IMAGO)

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You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season – featuring deep stats coverage, xG, physical metrics, and player ratings. Download the free app here.