Barcelona play Real Betis at Camp Nou on Monday in a match that is expected to serve as Robert Lewandowski’s farewell to the Camp Nou crowd. The game arrives less than a week after Barcelona confirmed the La Liga title with a win over Real Madrid, and three days after the club’s 11-match winning run in the league ended with a defeat at Alaves.
Coach Hansi Flick named a 23-player squad for the match on May 17, giving a clear picture of who is available for what will be the club’s final home game of the season. The group includes three goalkeepers — Joan Garcia, Wojciech Szczesny and Diego Kochen — and a defence stocked with João Cancelo, Alejandro Balde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Cubarsí, Andreas Christensen, Gerard Martín, Jules Kounde, Eric Garcia and Xavi Espart. The midfield options are Gavi, Pedri, Fermín López, Marc Casadó, Dani Olmo, Marc Bernal and Tommy Marqués; the forwards called are Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Marcus Rashford and Roony Bardghji.
The figures underline why the game matters beyond the farewell: Barcelona named 23 players, Marcus Rashford has contributed 14 goals this season, and the team’s run of 11 straight La Liga wins — which helped deliver the title — was snapped at Alaves on May 14. Raphinha returns after serving a suspension in midweek, but Frenkie de Jong is ruled out through suspension, Ferran Torres is absent with a small muscle issue, and Lamine Yamal remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.
The match kicks off at 9.15pm CET/WAT in Barcelona, 8.15pm BST/WAT in the UK and Nigeria, 3.15pm ET, 12.15pm PT in the USA, and 12.45am IST in India on Monday, giving a wide international audience the chance to see what Flick does with his available players now that domestic pressure has eased.
Context is simple and immediate: Barcelona are already La Liga champions and this is their final home match of the season, which is why the fixture has taken on an exclamation-point status as Lewandowski’s at-Camp-Nou goodbye. The squad selection underlines the balancing act — there are experienced names to deliver a competitive performance and younger players who can be given minutes in what the club has described as a season finale.
The most interesting friction is practical. Winning the title removed the imperative to protect points, but the defeat at Alaves three days ago exposed vulnerabilities and raised questions about momentum and morale. Flick’s 23-man list includes senior defenders and attackers who might normally be rested for a dead-rubber; instead they now face the choice of delivering a proper send-off for Lewandowski while also answering the midweek result.
That tension extends to selection headaches. With de Jong suspended and two wingers — Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal — unavailable, Flick must recalibrate midfield combinations and wing play. Raphinha’s return from suspension restores one attacking option, and Rashford’s 14 goals give the coach a reliable finishing threat. How Flick mixes starters and substitutes will tell whether Barcelona treat the night as a celebration, a competitive fixture or both.
Whatever the starting XI, the match will be remembered for Lewandowski. His farewell is expected in this final home fixture against Real Betis, and the image most likely to endure is of a packed Camp Nou giving its applause — not for a title won, but for a player leaving under the spotlight of a club that has already secured La Liga and now faces the test of ending a season on the right note.
