La Liga 2025-26: Barcelona hope return to Camp Nou can boost title defense

The final reopening of Camp Nou is a cause for celebration for Barcelona, ​​but coach Hansi Flick will only be happy if the country inaugurates its rebuilt stadium on Saturday by kick-starting its La Liga title defense.

The Catalan giants host Athletic Bilbao while three points behind Real Madrid after an inconsistent start to the season, below the level at which they claimed a domestic treble last season.

With three international breakthroughs disrupting the opening months, Flick now has the chance to join forces and find solutions to Barça’s problems.

It has scored 15 goals, more than nine of the 10 teams below it, while the attack has also struggled to get going as it did in Flick’s debut year.

The return to homeland is one of many reasons for Barcelona to believe that the coming weeks will be positive.

The club last played at Camp Nou in May 2023, when the stadium was closed for two and a half years.

Barca had hoped to reopen it in November 2024, but construction problems and other setbacks led to delays, with the team playing in exile at the Olympic Stadium.

“(Playing there) will definitely help us… for the future of the club it is very important, I congratulate everyone who worked on it,” said Flick.

In Barcelona’s previous outing, the team defeated Celta Vigo 4-2 in Galicia, with a wild first half giving way to a much more controlled second half, which could indicate the direction his team should go.

“The second half gives us confidence for the next games and that is what we need,” said the coach.

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Flick hopes the team will need confidence to execute its high-line defense to perfection, as it has done for a long period of time recently.

«I always think about saying something about the experts, former players, former coaches, but I won’t. It makes too much noise for us,» Flick said, showing that he has heard the criticism regularly directed at him about Barcelona’s defensive problems.

The club have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of the nine matches in all competitions since goalkeeper Joan Garcia was injured.

The stopper is set to return against Athletic to help end that run.

Striker Robert Lewandowski scored a hat-trick against Celta and after a difficult start to the season due to injury, his presence is a big boost.

The veteran has a goal-scoring flair that his replacement Ferran Torres cannot match, and he also provides good build-up connections for Barca’s wingers.

Teenage star Lamine Yamal is in doubt after missing Spain’s World Cup qualifier following treatment for a long-running groin problem, while Raphinha is close to a return to the other flank.

Although Marcus Rashford impressed during his loan spell at Manchester United, the Brazilian’s intensity and work rate has been missed in recent weeks.

A problem for Flick against Athletic is the suspension of Frenkie de Jong, while Pedri is out injured, depriving the coach of his first-choice central midfielders. Marc Casado and Dani Olmo will likely step in.

Whoever Flick selects will become part of the stadium’s new history, 68 years after the previous edition opened in 1957.

Published on November 21, 2025