FC Barcelona’s summer schedule is taking increasingly precise shape, and Hansi Flick is pushing to make it even more demanding. According to Mundo Deportivo, the Barcelona coach has formally asked the club to organise an additional friendly on 15 August – slotting it between the triangular tournament in Udine and the Joan Gamper Trophy – and expects to have his full first-team squad available for that fixture.
The Blaugranes are currently weighing proposals to stage the match in either Rabat or Nairobi, with no decision yet confirmed. Liverpool, who had been floated as a potential opponent, are no longer in the picture: the English side have already committed to a friendly against Como at Anfield on the same date.
The requested 15 August fixture would be scheduled for just a week before the first official game of the next season, giving Flick a final opportunity to step up for the start of the campaign. That sequencing matters: the triangular tournament in Udine, involving Udinese and Nottingham Forest, is set for 8 August, and the Joan Gamper Trophy against Al-Ahly follows on 19 August, leaving a gap that Flick evidently considers too valuable to leave unfilled.
The broader pre-season calendar already carries considerable weight. The Catalan club will play their first friendly of the summer on 24 July, against CE Europa – a Primera Federacion side – before heading to England for a week-long training camp that includes at least two friendlies against Championship sides, first against Birmingham City and then against Preston North End.
Flick began working with the players currently available to him earlier this month, while also filling his ranks with some youngsters. The push for an extra match in mid-August fits the pattern of a manager planning a full pre-season schedule rather than leaving preparation to chance, with the additional fixture set up to slot between the Udine tournament and the Joan Gamper Trophy.
The next step is for Barcelona to confirm an opponent and venue for the 15 August slot. Until that is settled, the August schedule retains a gap that Flick evidently considers too valuable to leave unfilled.