Hansi Flick is hoping for a profitable homecoming as Barcelona play at Camp Nou for the primary time in 2026, although he desires his facet to remain centered for the complete 90 minutes.
Sunday’s contest in opposition to Actual Oviedo will probably be Barcelona’s first sport at residence for the reason that flip of the yr.
The Blaugrana head into it having surrendered first place in LaLiga to Actual Madrid, who beat Villarreal 2-0 on Saturday.
In each their 2-1 defeat to Actual Sociedad in LaLiga and their 4-2 win over Slavia Praha within the Champions League, Flick’s facet shipped the opening aim – a difficulty he acknowledges as a urgent concern.
“We’re again residence and we need to win,” Flick stated.
“Recently, the opposition have all the time scored first, and we need to keep away from that. We’ve made some errors, and that’s why the objectives have come. Maybe we must be extra centered, for the complete 90 minutes.
“Groups defend with all the pieces they’ve received in opposition to us. Defending is extra difficult. We’ve to be ready. We’ve talked about it, and we’ve got to do it.”
Flick additionally defended his facet’s midweek efficiency in opposition to Slavia, with Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo, and Robert Lewandowski netting to seal victory.
“We don’t have a lot time to coach [set pieces], however we’ve talked about it. In Prague, it was completely different. I don’t need to make excuses, but it surely was very chilly and so they had very tall gamers,” he added.
“It’s essential to be well-positioned, and we’ve mentioned it. At Barca, we don’t often have tall gamers, however they’ve all the time been in a position to handle it.”
Hansi Flick: ““We’ve made some errors and that’s why we’ve conceded objectives. We’ve to remain extra centered all through the complete 90 minutes. We’ve talked about it and we’ll do it.” pic.twitter.com/T1xdLCzh4x
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 24, 2026
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Barcelona – Lamine Yamal
Yamal leads the help charts in LaLiga this season, having offered eight.
Solely Michael Olise and Mohamed Salah have registered extra assists than Yamal’s 21 throughout the 5 large European leagues for the reason that begin of the 2024-25 marketing campaign.
Actual Oviedo – Federico Vinas
Federico Vinas has scored in his final two LaLiga matches for Actual Oviedo (one aim in opposition to Alaves and one in opposition to Osasuna).
He may grow to be simply the third participant to attain in three consecutive video games within the competitors for the Asturian facet this century, after Jaime and Oli each did so again in 2001.
MATCH PREDICTION: BARCELONA WIN
Barcelona have gained seven of their final 9 residence video games in opposition to Oviedo in LaLiga (D1 L1), dropping the newest one 0-1 in Might 2001. They’ve by no means misplaced consecutive residence conferences in opposition to the Asturian facet within the historical past of LaLiga.
The Blaugrana will probably be relishing a return to the Camp Nou, having gained every of their final 9 residence video games in LaLiga. The final time they recorded 10 or extra residence wins within the competitors underneath the identical supervisor was in December 2019 with Ernesto Valverde (W14).
After selecting up a 3-1 victory in opposition to Oviedo within the reverse fixture on the Carlos Tartiere in September, Barca may do the double over them for the primary time since 1995-96.
Oviedo, although, have gained 4 of their final 9 matches in opposition to Barcelona in LaLiga (L5) – the identical variety of victories they managed of their earlier 24 encounters with the Blaugrana within the competitors (W4 D6 L14).
Guillermo Almada’s facet, nevertheless, are winless of their final 13 league matches (D7 L6) and have collected solely 13 factors from 20 video games this season (W2 D7 L11).
The final 11 groups to have managed 13 or fewer factors at this stage of a LaLiga season have been relegated, with Actual Zaragoza in 2011-12 (12 factors, W2 D6 L12, sixteenth on the finish) being the final such facet to keep away from the drop.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Barcelona – 81.6%
Draw – 11.1%
Actual Oviedo – 7.3%
