Hansi Flick returned FC Barcelona to the training ground on 21 May 2026 as the club prepared for its final league match of the 2025/26 season — an away fixture at Mestalla against Valencia scheduled for Saturday at 9pm CEST that will not affect a championship Barcelona have already won.
The immediate detail that gives the game weight is simple and concrete: Flick will head to Mestalla without three players — Lamine Yamal, Fermín López and Jules Kounde — while others who had been feeling discomfort are back in work. De Jong and Ferran have started training again after recent knocks, and the coach named a final squad that mixes established names and younger options, including Cancelo, Balde, Araujo, Cubarsí, Gavi, Ferran, Pedri, Lewandowski, Joan Garcia, Rashford, Christensen, M. Casadó, Gerard Martín, Roony, Olmo, F. De Jong, Bernal, Eric, Szczesny, Kochen, Cortés, Xavi Espart and Tommy.
That roster underscores why the match still matters today: even as a formality for the title race, it is the closing chapter of the 2025/26 season and a chance for players to finish on their own terms ahead of the summer. For supporters and squad members alike, a trip to Mestalla marks the last competitive opportunity of the campaign, and the personnel Flick selected shows Barcelona will not send only kids to Valencia — senior figures such as Lewandowski, Pedri, Gavi and Cancelo are on the list.
Context: this is Barcelona's last league fixture of the season, and the result will not change the championship outcome. The team rested for a couple of days before returning to training on 21 May 2026, and the decision to bring De Jong and Ferran back into sessions after their discomfort suggests Flick intends to finish with as much continuity as circumstances allow.
The tension comes from balance: Barcelona are champions, but the squad is not at full strength. Losing three players — two attackers and a defender — creates selection questions at both ends of the pitch, and it complicates how Flick will allocate minutes in a match with no table stakes. The recovery of De Jong and Ferran reduces that strain, but the absence of Yamal, Fermín López and Kounde means replacements will be needed in roles that have been important this season. That friction — between a closed championship and the immediate reality of missing personnel — is the central story heading into Mestalla.
For readers hunting a valencia vs barcelona prediction, the evidence points to a side that will approach the game with respect for competition and a desire for a composed finish to the season: a coach who has named a deep final squad, players being reintroduced to training, and three confirmed absentees shaping selection. None of the facts available indicate a wholesale experiment or a total second-string line-up; instead, the squad list suggests Flick will mix experience and youth to close the 2025/26 campaign.
The decisive detail going forward is selection on match day and how Flick chooses to cover the three absences. If De Jong and Ferran continue their return to full sessions, Barcelona can field a balanced group capable of controlling the game; if either is held back, the coach will need to lean on the depth named in his final list. Either way, the visit to Mestalla will function as a season finale and a quiet litmus test of Barcelona’s depth under Hansi Flick as the club turns the page toward the summer.
