Hansi Flick set to rotate against Espanyol and hand starts to two returning Barcelona midfielders | OneFootball

FC Barcelona played three high-intensity games in the space of seven days against Sevilla, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid. Although the Catalan club emerged 13-2 winners cumulatively from those three games, there must be some tired legs out there.

Although there is set to be a week’s rest between the Clasico and Barcelona’s next game against Espanyol, Hansi Flick will know that rotating the squad is important to keep everyone fresh and ready for the important games.

The German coach will also be keen on rotating in parts to avoid a situation like the game against Osasuna where he was forced to rotate heavily, which ended up in Barcelona’s only loss so far in La Liga this season.

It looks like Flick has all this in mind. As per Toni Juanmartí SPORT, the German coach intends to give the players who have played fewer minutes a run against Espanyol. Two players who are in line for starts are Frenkie de Jong and Dani Olmo, both recently returning from injury.

Frenkie is expected to come into the team in place of either Pedri or Marc Casado, two players who have been brilliant for Barcelona this season. On the other hand, Olmo is expected to replace one of Raphinha or Lamine Yamal, which could see Fermin move into the space vacated.

In defense, Flick is considering resting one of Jules Kounde or Alejandro Balde with Hector Fort and Gerard Martin in line to come in, respectively. Most likely, it is going to be the latter who gets a rest in the Catalan derby.

The report explains the situation is more complex with it comes to Gavi, who is just returning after missing a year’s worth of football action. Thus, it is highly unlikely that Hansi Flick will hand him a start any time soon although we should be seeing more of him soon.

It remains to be seen how the German coach handles the tricky rotations as winning against Espanyol is very important. Only time will tell how this situation plays out.