Kick-off was at 4:30pm CEST. Barcelona took the lead through Karim Adeyemi, who finished off a Raphinha assist, but 17-year-old Jean Doucouré levelled for Basel before the break. Hamza Abdelkarim, scoring his third goal of the preseason, restored Barça’s lead after the interval.

With ten minutes left, a foul on Jules Koundé inside the box gave Barcelona a penalty. Yamal, who had come on in the 65th minute alongside Dani Olmo for his first minutes since the World Cup, stepped up and converted it. Basel hit back with a penalty of their own, converted by Kazeem Olaigbe, but the closing stages belonged to Bisiwu. The Belgian winger, signed from Club Brugge for around €8 million last month, curled home a stunning finish before adding a simple tap-in set up by Yamal to make it 5-2.

Notably absent from the squad were Pedri and Gavi. According to Mundo Deportivo, this isn’t injury-related — it’s a deliberate call by Hansi Flick’s staff to bring both midfielders back up to full intensity gradually rather than risk them in friendlies at this stage. Frenkie de Jong and Roony Bardghji remain out through injury. Meanwhile, Dani Olmo, Jules Koundé and Pau Cubarsí all got their first minutes of the preseason, and summer signing Anthony Gordon (€70m from Newcastle) made his first start for the club.

It’s Barcelona’s penultimate test before the season starts — the Joan Gamper Trophy against Al Ahly comes on Wednesday, and the La Liga opener is away at Elche on Sunday, August 23.

The friendly result itself doesn’t matter much, but the numbers do. Barcelona paid around €8 million for Bisiwu, and he already has two preseason goals to show for it. Compare that to the €100 million the club was reportedly willing to put on the table for Julián Álvarez, or the €65 million bid for Rodri — both of which have produced plenty of headlines and nothing else so far. Sometimes the best signing of the summer is the one nobody was talking about.

Gordon signed for Barcelona at the end of May, but his participation in the World Cup delayed the start of his preseason under Hansi Flick. This is his first matchday trip with the club. A place in the starting eleven is not guaranteed, although his debut now looks very likely.

The timing is interesting because Ferran Torres has just completed his move to Paris Saint-Germain. Flick has lost a player who could operate both out wide and through the middle. Gordon is primarily a left winger, but Barcelona’s official profile also highlights his ability to play as a centre-forward. His first appearance may offer an early clue about the role Flick has prepared for him.

Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Pau Cubarsí, Eric García and Joan García have also travelled to Basel. Pedri and Gavi have stayed behind as part of their individual fitness programmes.

This will be Barcelona’s penultimate test before the competitive season begins. Following a 2–2 draw against Birmingham City and shortened matches against Nottingham Forest and Udinese, Flick needs more than another preseason exercise. He needs to start finding out how his reshaped attack will actually work. Announcing a signing takes one statement. Building a functioning team usually takes a little longer.

FC Basel will face FC Barcelona on Sunday, 16 August at 4:30 p.m. CEST at St. Jakob-Park. According to Mundo Deportivo, the match will be available through a paid stream on Barça Play and the club’s official YouTube channel, although availability may vary by country.

Barcelona will then face Al Ahly in the Joan Gamper Trophy on Wednesday. After that, the friendlies are over and Gordon’s real examination begins.

The friendly itself may not be the biggest fixture on the calendar, but Basel has a special place in Barcelona’s European history. On 16 May 1979, Barça beat Fortuna Düsseldorf 4–3 after extra time there to win the European Cup Winners’ Cup, with Carles Rexach, Juan Manuel Asensi, Hans Krankl and Julio Alberto scoring. The club itself describes that night as one of the great milestones in its European history. 

Barcelona’s most recent visit was rather enjoyable too. In October 2008, Pep Guardiola’s side demolished FC Basel 5–0 in the Champions League. Lionel Messi opened the scoring, Bojan struck twice, Xavi added another and Sergio Busquets scored his first goal for Barça’s first team. Almost 18 years later, Barcelona return to a city where their memories are significantly healthier than some of their recent balance sheets. 

There is another historical connection. Both clubs use the initials FCB and wear blue and claret, while Barcelona founder Hans Gamper played at least one match for FC Basel in 1896. One theory even suggests that Barça’s colours were inspired by Basel, although Barcelona itself stresses that this remains only one of several possible explanations. 

For Flick, however, nostalgia will be secondary. Barcelona’s league season starts later than that of some rivals because several players were involved in the latter stages of the World Cup, so there is not much preparation time left. Basel is another test rather than a history lesson — although it never hurts to remember that Barça once travelled to Switzerland to collect European trophies, not simply preseason minutes. 

FC BASEL – FC BARCELONA
📅 Sunday, August 16
⏰ 16:30 CEST
🏟️ St. Jakob-Park, Basel
📺 Barça Play and FC Barcelona’s official YouTube Premium channel — the club’s live video coverage is available in Spain only. Worldwide, the match can also be followed through Barça’s live text coverage, official app and social channels. 

According to FCBarca.com, Barça enjoyed plenty of possession but once again discovered that keeping the ball is much easier than creating anything with it. Across 90 minutes of football, the team scored once — from the penalty spot — while Wojciech Szczęsny and the post repeatedly prevented Forest from taking the lead.

Udinese settled the tournament in the 44th minute of the final game. Gueye delivered the ball across the box and Vakoun Bayo lifted it over Szczęsny. Barça return home with second place, useful minutes for the youngsters and another reminder that possession only becomes dangerous when someone eventually remembers to shoot.

Basel’s announcement provided the best detail. The Swiss club said the fixture was arranged at Hansi Flick’s express request, which the Barça coach personally made to Basel chairman David Degen. When the schedule refused to fix itself, Flick apparently decided to take over that department too.

Basel will play FC Courtételle in the Swiss Cup on August 15 before hosting Barcelona the following afternoon. They have effectively squeezed the five-time European champions between a competitive match and recovery day. Barça will then face Al-Ahly in the Gamper Trophy on August 19. Efficient emergency work, certainly — although finding an opponent eight days before kick-off says plenty about how smoothly the original plan went.

Hansi Flick wanted a proper competitive test. After the 2-2 draw and penalty shootout defeat against Birmingham, Barça apparently decided that another match against a youthful side would not provide enough useful answers. The friendly will be replaced by a training session. At least the cones are unlikely to report any squad problems.

The club may also return to Barcelona earlier than originally planned. Flick will therefore lose another opportunity to assess his young players in match conditions before the next stage of preseason.

The funny part is that a club which regularly presents teenagers as the future of its first team has cancelled a friendly because the opposition planned to use too many youngsters. Youth development is apparently exciting when it happens at La Masia and inconvenient when it happens in Preston.

Instead, the spotlight belonged to 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim. The Egyptian won and converted a penalty before scoring again from the rebound after Roony Bardghji’s shot. His first two senior goals for Barça arrived on a night designed to introduce the club’s latest signing. Barcelona can keep buying new names, but somehow it is still a teenager from the reserves who has to provide the goals.

Hansi Flick defended Adeyemi after the match. The coach said the winger had shown glimpses of his ability, expressed satisfaction with his minutes and predicted a much better version once he has completed more training sessions. It was a reasonable assessment, although at Barcelona “he still needs time” has become almost as traditional as the shirt presentation and the photograph with Laporta. AS

Barça drew 2–2 with a Championship side before losing the shootout 3–2. Adeyemi got his debut, Hamza got the goals and Birmingham got the win. Everyone left with something, although Barcelona appeared happiest with the potential.

Abdelkarim struck again after the break, reacting first following a move created by Roony Bardghji. Barça led 2–1 and were able to pretend everything was going according to plan for eight whole minutes. Jhon Solís then equalised from a set piece, reminding the Catalans that the youth-team excuse does not mark opponents inside the box.

Flick used 22 players, while Barcelona’s best performer was a striker who is not even old enough to legally buy a beer in Birmingham. A ceremonial penalty shootout followed the draw. Barça missed three attempts and lost it despite Áron Yaakobishvili making two saves. One pre-season game played, and they have already found a way to disappoint after the final whistle as well.

Birmingham City 2–2 FC Barcelona (Birmingham won the penalty shootout)
Goals: August Priske 31’, Hamza Abdelkarim 42’ (pen.), 60’, Jhon Solís 68’
Turning point: Barcelona took the lead through Abdelkarim’s second goal but held it for only eight minutes. Solís equalised from a set piece before Barça missed three penalties in the shootout.