The World Will Have to Wait for Rodri’s Barcelona Debut

Barcelona will have to kick off their 2026–27 La Liga campaign without new blockbuster signing Rodri on Sunday.

Hansi Flick was ecstatic to add the newly crowned World Cup winner to his ranks this summer, snagging the midfielder’s signature despite heavy interest from Real Madrid. Rodri inked a four-year contract with the Catalans, returning home to Spain after seven seasons with Manchester City.

The deal took a bit longer than expected to get over the line, leaving Rodri without much time to get acclimated with Barcelona before this weekend’s away trip to Elche. In fact, the Spain international has yet to even train with the team since completing his transfer, ruling him out of Sunday’s clash.

“I’m glad he’s here,” Flick said of Rodri in his pregame press conference on Saturday. “He’s a fantastic player, a leader and he has a great personality. Our plan is for him to join the group on Monday.”

In the meantime, Rodri has trained separately as he recovers from back surgery following the 2026 World Cup.

When Will Rodri Make His Barcelona Debut?

Should Rodri indeed join up with the team on Monday and experience no injury setbacks, then the midfielder could make his highly anticipated Barcelona debut on Thursday, Aug. 27, against Athletic Club.

The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner would get to log his first minutes in a Blaugrana shirt at Camp Nou, in front of a crowd eager to make him feel at home.

Just three days training might still be too soon to throw Rodri into action, though. Flick could instead proceed with caution and keep his shiny new signing out of action until Monday, Aug. 31. Barcelona are set to host Rayo Vallecano.

It would be the last opportunity for Rodri to debut in front of a home crowd before Barcelona go on the road to play Valencia and Levante in the first two weeks of September.

Flick: ‘No Excuses’ for World Cup Stars

Hansi Flick is expecting to defeat Elche even without some of his biggest names fully fit. | Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Rodri is not the only Barcelona player who made a deep run at the 2026 World Cup. His fellow countrymen Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Pau Cubarsí, Dani Olmo, Gavi, Joan García and Eric García also lifted the golden trophy with Spain on July 19.

Flick’s Spanish contingent missed a majority of preseason, as did new signing Anthony Gordon, who helped England finish third in this summer’s showpiece event. In an ideal world, the players would have gotten more time to recover and prepare before the season started, but such are the realities of soccer’s hectic match calendar.

Apart from Rodri, all the aforementioned players are available to feature in Sunday’s league opener, as are new signings João Cancelo and Karim Adeyemi, who are officially registered with La Liga. How big of roles they will play is another issue entirely.

“It’s normal that those who played the World Cup don’t play 90 minutes,” Flick said. “We have to handle it. It’s not easy, but there are no excuses.”

Even without their biggest names playing the full game on Sunday, Barcelona should have little trouble getting past an Elche side that finished 15th in La Liga last season.

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