Match Preview | FC Barcelona v Nàstic: Preseason starts here

Football is back after a rather shorter summer break than usual. On Saturday at 7.00pm CEST FC Barcelona will begin their 2020/21 preseason under new coach Ronald Koeman with a game at the Estadio Johan Cruyff, their opponent being fellow Catalan club Nàstic de Tarragona. The friendly will be the first in a series of warm up games before Barça kick off their La Liga campaign on the weekend 26/27 September against Villarreal. 

The game can be seen live right across the world on Barça TV+ and we will also have minute by minute coverage via the Match Center on the Club's official website and coverage via its various official social media accounts. 

Opponents Nàstic de Tarragona currently ply their trade in the third tier of Spanish Football, the Segunda B. The local derby has a long history as the first meeting between the two Catalan clubs came back in the quarter finals of the Copa in 1946/47. Since then they have met 10 times in the Spanish First Division with Barça winning eight and drawing twice. 

Koeman's squad

The Dutch coach has named 25 players for the game against the Segunda B side: Neto, Iñaki Peña, Arnau Tenas, N. Semedo, Piqué, Sergio, Griezmann, Messi, O. Dembélé, Lenglet, Jordi Alba, Braithwaite, S. Roberto, F. De Jong, Junior, Coutinho, Aleñá, Trincao, Pedri, Riqui Puig, R. Araujo, J. Cuenca, Miranda, Konrad and Ilaix Moriba.

In the run up to the game, coach Ronald Koeman said, "the team are working very well, with intensity, and I am very happy with the work that the team have been doing during these two weeks." With regards to Saturday's game, he added: "Each player is going to get 45 minutes; it will be a game with two separate teams. We will look for intensity, order in our play, how we want to play with the ball, transitions and pressing... things to improve and to see how we want to play."

Check out kick off time around the world for Barça v Nàstic!