Rodri is on the bench, not in the starting lineup, as Barcelona host Athletic Club at the Camp Nou in their second match of the 2026-27 LaLiga season, with the Spanish midfielder still working his way up to full match fitness following his summer move to Catalonia.
The 29-year-old missed Barcelona‘s season opener against Elche entirely, a 5-0 win, after his move to the club was finalized following an extended post-World Cup vacation and rehabilitation from a minor back procedure.
With only a handful of training sessions under his belt at the time, head coach Hansi Flick opted to leave him out of the matchday squad completely rather than rush him back.
Since then, Rodri has trained normally with the rest of the squad, completing full sessions through the week, which has allowed Flick to include him among the substitutes for the visit of Athletic Club. The plan is for the former Manchester City midfielder to see some minutes in the second half, marking what would be his official Barcelona debut.
Flick manages World Cup minutes as Barcelona rotate the squad
With several key players still working back from a deep run at the 2026 World Cup, Flick has continued to manage his squad’s workload carefully rather than rushing everyone back into full 90-minute shifts.
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Jules Kounde, Joao Cancelo, Dani Olmo, and Anthony Gordon all featured in the tournament’s final weekend, and the German coach has been rotating them in and out of the lineup accordingly, a plan he laid out ahead of the season opener against Elche.
“It is normal that the players who played in the World Cup don’t play the full 90 minutes, though they may have to play a few minutes. You have to manage the minutes, and it isn’t easy,” Flick said during a press conference, a philosophy that extends directly to how he’s handling Rodri’s integration into the squad.
