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Mohamed Mansi

Translated by

Despite Hamza Abdelkarim's touches: goalscoring decline worries Barcelona

FEATURES
Nottingham Forest vs Barcelona
Nottingham Forest
Barcelona
Club Friendlies
Udinese vs Barcelona
Udinese
H. Abdelkarim
H. Flick
LaLiga
Spain
Egypt

Barcelona's build-up has thrown up unusual problems for Hansi Flick, with the World Cup forcing his international players to report back late. The last of them arrive on 12 August.

The first three matches told their own story. Two of them, against Birmingham, Nottingham Forest and Udinese, lasted just 45 minutes, and all three exposed the same flaw: this team needs more goals.

According to "Mundo Deportivo", Barcelona's pre-season friendlies have laid bare a scoring problem following the departure of Robert Lewandowski, with Ferran Torres potentially set to follow him out.

The numbers make grim reading. Before facing Basel on 16 August and the Joan Gamper Trophy on the 19th, Barcelona have managed just three goals. Two came from penalties. The other arrived from a rebound.

Egypt's Hamza Abdelkarim grabbed two of them, with Brazilian Raphinha adding the third.

  • Lewandowski BarcelonaGetty

    Lewandowski's departure affects Barcelona's attack

    This scoring decline follows the departure of Lewandowski, who averaged 30 goals across his four seasons at Barcelona. Torres could be next out the door. The forward, who scores at a rate close to 20 goals, has already told the club he wants to leave and join Paris Saint-Germain.

    Signing Julian Alvarez or turning to the alternative plan has become a pressing matter for Barcelona.

    Against Udinese, Flick leaned on Raphinha, Fermin, Ademi, Bessie and Hamza. The German coach is still waiting on Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo, two more of the team's goalscorers.

    Flick's first pre-season on the Barcelona bench, in 2024-2025, brought 7 goals across 5 matches.

    The second, in 2025-2026, told a different story. The Catalan side played 4 friendlies and their goal tally jumped to 20, built on wins over Vissel Kobe, FC Seoul, Daegu and Como.

    Those international returnees would bolster Barcelona's current strength, though most of them are defensively minded, with Yamal and Olmo the exceptions. Ferran, for his part, hopes to finalise his exit before rejoining the group.

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