FC Barcelona traveled to Switzerland on Sunday to face FC Basel in a preseason friendly at St. Jakob-Park, with manager Hansi Flick handing new signing Anthony Gordon his first start for the club in the unfamiliar role of center forward. The match, played at 16:30 local time in Spain (09:30 in the United States and 08:30 in Mexico, according to Diario AS), marked the penultimate test of Barcelona's preseason before the club's traditional Joan Gamper Trophy and the start of its La Liga campaign.
Flick sent out a starting eleven of Joan Garcia in goal, with Xavi Espart, Gerard Martin, Andreas Christensen and Alejandro Balde across the back line, Eric Garcia and Marc Bernal in midfield, and an attacking trio of Karim Adeyemi, Fermin Lopez and Raphinha supporting Gordon up front, according to lineups confirmed by both Diario AS and MARCA. Basel, coached by former Juventus and Switzerland defender Stephan Lichtsteiner, lined up with Widmer in goal behind a back four of Ruegg, Omeragic, Vouilloz and Senaya, with Metinho anchoring midfield alongside Harder and Doucoure, and Malouda, Afrim and Otele leading the attack, per Diario AS's report from the stadium. MARCA listed a slightly different Basel eleven ahead of kickoff, naming Renato in goal and including Aaron M and C. Ajeti among the starters, a discrepancy that reflects the fluid nature of late team-sheet changes common in preseason friendlies.
Gordon's deployment as a out-and-out striker was the headline talking point heading into the match. As Diario AS noted, the Englishman had occasionally played centrally for Newcastle United, but the experiment carries added significance for Barcelona because the club is still searching for a natural number nine after losing roughly 40 goals worth of production following the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres. Flick chose to test Gordon in that role from the opening whistle rather than ease him in as a substitute, according to Diario AS's live coverage of the game.
Barcelona were without two of their World Cup-winning midfielders, Pedri and Gavi, for the trip to Basel. Citing Spanish outlet Sport, Sports Illustrated reported that Pedri is following a "specific preparation plan" after returning from the World Cup, while Gavi was rested as part of standard workload management during preseason. Their absence opened the door for Eric Garcia and Marc Bernal to start in central midfield, with both Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo held back on the bench, according to Diario AS.
For the occasion, Barcelona wore the same salmon-colored kit the team used in its August 8 friendly against Nottingham Forest, Diario AS reported. Flick called up a 24-player squad that included many of the club's World Cup participants, although MARCA noted that several of the most recent arrivals from the tournament's semifinals and final were named only as substitutes as they continue working back to full match fitness. The named squad, per MARCA, included Joan Garcia, Balde, Cortes, Cubarsi, Abdelkarim, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Xavi Espart, Szczesny, Orian Goren, Christensen, Fermin, Adeyemi, Gerard Martin, Gordon, Olmo, Farinas, Bernal, Kounde, Eric, Pesquer, Bisiwu, Ebrima Tunkara and Eder Aller.
The fixture carried historical weight beyond its preseason function. According to MARCA, Basel and Barcelona had met only twice before Sunday's friendly: first in the 1958/60 season, when the Catalan club won both legs 1-2 and 5-2, and again in the group stage of the 2008/09 Champions League, when Barcelona won 0-5 away and drew 1-1 at home. St. Jakob-Park itself holds a special place in Barcelona's history, MARCA noted, as the venue where the club won its first major European trophy, the 1979 Cup Winners' Cup, defeating Fortuna Dusseldorf 4-3 in front of roughly 30,000 traveling Barcelona supporters.
Sunday's friendly also arrived amid an active summer transfer window for the Catalan club. Sports Illustrated reported that Barcelona's two headline signings so far this season are Gordon and Adeyemi, though the club's front office is pursuing further additions. According to that outlet, a deal to sign Rodri is close to completion, Barcelona continues to hold out hope of landing Julian Alvarez, and the club is making renewed moves to bring back Joao Cancelo. Should the pursuit of the Argentine forward Alvarez fall through, Sports Illustrated reported that Barcelona's fallback option would be Colombian international Luis Suarez, currently at Sporting Lisbon, underscoring how urgently the club is working to solve its shortage of proven center-forward options after Lewandowski's exit.
The Basel test served as the third preseason match of the summer for Flick's side, according to MARCA, with the Swiss hosts entering the fixture already having played several competitive league matches of their own domestically. After Sunday's friendly, Barcelona will return to Barcelona to face Egyptian club Al-Ahly in the Joan Gamper Trophy at Camp Nou on Wednesday, August 19, both Sports Illustrated and MARCA confirmed. That match will close out the club's formal preseason preparation before its La Liga opener on Sunday, August 23, against Elche at the Martinez Valero stadium, followed by a home fixture against Athletic Club, according to Sports Illustrated's report on the club's upcoming schedule.
With Pedri and Gavi expected back in full training soon and the club's front office continuing to negotiate potential arrivals before the transfer window closes, Flick's use of Sunday's friendly to trial Gordon at center forward offered an early look at how the manager might address Barcelona's goal-scoring gap if a marquee striker signing does not materialize before the season begins in earnest.
