FC Barcelona will play its second La Liga game this weekend against Levante, who are back in the first division after spending three seasons in La Liga 2. The game will be played at the Estadio Ciudad de Valencia.
Levante lost 2-1 to Deportivo Alaves in the first match day, while Barcelona defeated Mallorca 3-0. For the second match day, Barcelona may start without one of their key players, Frenkie De Jong.
De Jong plays in a double pivot with Pedri, and the two played the entire game against Mallorca last weekend. The Dutch midfielder is not injured, but has become a father for the second time this week.
De Jong missed multiple training sessions this week as his wife was giving birth to their second child. He returned to team training a day before the match against Levante, but some believe he will not start after Hansi Flick’s actions.
Hansi Flick on Frenkie De Jong
During the press conference before the match against Levante, Hansi Flick was asked if De Jong would start the match tomorrow, but the German coach did not indicate whether he would or not.
Hansi Flick: “I don’t talk about these matters, but Frenkie is ready to play.”
Flick confirmed that De Jong is ready to play, but some media outlets noticed the midfielder discussing with the manager after the normal team training. After the group session, De Jong stayed behind to train alone to make up for the sessions he missed.
De Jong was congratulated for being a father for the second time by the rest of the squad before the team training session.
The players who could replace De Jong from the start could be Gavi or Marc Casado.
