FC Barcelona had a mixed start to the 2025/26 season but have improved massively in recent months, winning nine straight La Liga games. They are now in Jeddah, looking to lift their first silverware of the season, the Spanish Super Cup.
For much of the early part of the season, Flick’s defensive midfield identity was set in stone. Frenkie de Jong and Pedri were viewed as untouchables in the starting XI, but in recent weeks, the situation has changed a little.
That stability was disrupted following Barcelona’s Champions League defeat at Stamford Bridge. Frenkie missed the next two matches, first due to personal reasons and then because of fever.
After the Chelsea match, his situation changed significantly: he has been on the bench three times in the six matches since then, excluding the two he missed.
While he has played the last three official matches in full, one was a Copa fixture against a lower-tier side like Guadalajara, and in the other two, Pedri was absent in one and not fully fit in the other.
SEVILLE, SPAIN - OCTOBER 05: Frenkie de Jong of FC Barcelona warms up prior to the LaLiga EA Sports match between Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on October 05, 2025 in Seville, Spain.
Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images
During his absence, Flick experimented with an Eric Garcia and Pedri partnership, and the presence of the former made Barcelona more stable defensively. This subsequently saw Frenkie benched in favour of that partnership.
Now, according to a report from SPORT, Pedri is fully recovered from a minor muscle overload and is expected to start against Athletic Club in the Spanish Super Cup semifinal. His return creates a difficult decision for Flick, who must now determine how to reintegrate Frenkie.
The report notes that all eyes will be on what Hansi Flick decides to do with Frenkie de Jong. One option would be to play him alongside Pedri and deploy Eric Garcia deeper, but that would mean displacing Gerard Martín from the XI.
It remains to be seen how things play out in the midfield dynamic for the Spanish Super Cup. Frenkie is too good a player to be cooling his heels on the bench, and it remains to be seen how Hansi Flick makes this difficult call.