Flick's New Swiss Army Knife Espart Among Most Impressive in FC Barcelona at Elche Rout
24.08.26, 10:18 Updated 24.08.26, 18:43
Tom Sanderson
ESPN's Moises Llorens called it in the hours leading up to kick off. Though considering how unforgiveable Barça Twitter, or X if you will, can be, he didn't want to go out on a limb and stressed that his was only a "POSSIBLE" starting XI for Elche.
Llorens put Xavi Espart on one defensive flank and Eric Garcia on the other, but the way he placed Lamine in the list made it seem as though the first-mentioned FC Barcelona player would be lining up at left back.
When Hansi Flick's official line up was released around an hour before kick off, the common feeling among Culers was that Eric would be the left back while Espart played on the right. After all, this is where we saw Espart in his six 2024/2025 showings, preceding preseason minutes in midfield over the past few weeks.
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Tom Sanderson has lived in Barcelona since 2019, when he became Forbes' lead reporter on FC Barcelona and Spanish football. He's been The Guardian's most prominent writer on Brazilian football for almost a decade as part of a journey that began in São Paulo. In London, he also became the Daily Mail's first-ever Spanish content writer in its sports department.