Hansi Flick led Barcelona to the Estadio de Mendizorroza on Wednesday for a jornada 36 LaLiga visit to Deportivo Alavés, the match scheduled for 21:30 hours and coming after the club had already clinched the Spanish title.
Flick named a 23‑player squad that included one notable comeback and one notable absence: Andreas Christensen had received medical clearance on May 13 after not playing since December 16 because of a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, while Raphinha was not in the starting eleven and did not appear among the substitutes because he accumulated his fifth yellow card against Real Madrid — an accumulation that triggers a one‑match suspension.
Two midfielders who helped seal the title on the previous Sunday were left out by technical decision. Frenkie de Jong and Fermín López both participated in the win over Real Madrid that secured the championship, but Flick omitted them from the matchday group for Mendizorroza.
Flick acknowledged the tightrope the squad faces between celebration and continuity: "Hemos celebrado mucho la Liga, pero también es posible seguir jugando bien." The manager’s words framed a selection problem that reads differently depending on whether the priority is rest, reward or momentum.
The roster choices carry immediate weight. Christensen’s return on paper strengthens a defence that has finished the season early with a title in the bag, but the centre‑back has been out since December 16 and only cleared to return on May 13; how much Flick trusts him after a partial ACL tear is the practical question of the evening. Raphinha’s absence is procedural rather than tactical — a fifth yellow card against Real Madrid brought an automatic one‑match ban — but it removes an attacking option from a side that could use rotation now the title is secure.
Context is simple and unavoidable: the league is already won. That reality changes the texture of the visit to Mendizorroza — what would normally be a pressure match becomes an opportunity to manage minutes, give players rest or test recovery — but it does not erase the competitiveness of the fixture or the optics of who plays and who does not.
The tension in Barcelona’s setup is clear. Flick says the team can keep producing good football even after the celebrations, yet he left out two players who helped deliver the trophy and cleared a long‑absent defender to return. Those moves point to a manager balancing squad harmony, player welfare and the need to keep standards high in the closing stretch.
The single most consequential question after Flick’s team sheet is whether Christensen’s medical clearance will translate into meaningful minutes — and if so, how quickly. Given his long absence since December 16 and the caution that follows a partial ACL tear, the decision to play him will reveal whether Flick prioritises continuity and testing recovery or prefers to protect a player who has only just been cleared to rejoin match action.
