The match between Rayo Vallecano and FC Barcelona has left a great surprise. And the thing is that the coach Hansi Flick has chosen to line up Andreas Christensen to share the center-back position with Eric García, while Jules Koundé returns to the right side and Alejandro Balde plays on the left side.
In this way, the German strategist shows once again that he counts on each of the players that make up his squad and that he considers them valid to have minutes in the first team.
It should be noted that Christensen returns to a starting position four matches later, since the last time he started from the beginning of a match was against RCD Espanyol de Barcelona, during matchday 36 of the 2024/25 season.
Now, the '15' has a new opportunity to demonstrate that he was not wrong to force, in principle, his continuity in the Blaugrana team, since he was one of those pointed out to leave during the current summer transfer window.
Coincidence? Christensen starts and Flick sends a warning
The starting position of the native of Lillerod is not a coincidence, but also responds to the desire of the German coach to send a message that suggests that no player can lower his level in a team like Barça.
Both his entry and that of Eric García to the starting XI means the first time on the bench for Ronald Araujo and Pau Cubarsí, who played the first two matches (against RCD Mallorca and Levante UD) as starters.
Likewise, this is to completely block a possible departure of the '15' with just over a day left before the closing of the summer market. Christensen received interest from clubs such as AC Milan and Al Nassr of the Saudi Pro League.
It was even speculated that the seven-time European champions were considering presenting Barça with an offer of around 30 million euros for the player, who has one year left on his contract (until 2026) and is waiting for the club to offer him a contract extension.
Christensen vindicates himself: Flick takes note of the preseason
In this sense, the 29-year-old defender took advantage of the preseason to vindicate himself as a useful piece for Flick. The Danish defender participated in the four preparation matches, three of the Asian tour and the other related to the Joan Gamper Trophy match, accumulating a total of 147 minutes on the field.
Likewise, one of the outstanding performances of the defender occurred against FC Seoul, corresponding to the second preparation match prior to the start of the 2025/26 season; where he took the opportunity to score a great goal against the South Korean team.
Christensen's goal (which represented Barça's fourth goal in a match that the Culés won 3-7) came in the 55th minute, after receiving a pass from Gavi and, from outside the area, he unleashed a powerful shot with his right leg that went into the left post, which was impossible to stop for the rival goalkeeper.
The Dane was solvent and confident during the minutes he had on the field in preseason, something he could not do last season, as he could only participate in 6 matches (259') due to constant injuries, while in the current season he had only played 14'.