Rodri to debut against Athletic Bilbao

The saga between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid still drags on and yesterday and today it boiled over again, when Joan Laporta admitted that the club is still interested in signing Julian Alvarez. The members of the Atletico’s Board of Directors have unanimously shown their full support for the club's decision not to negotiate the transfer of Julian Alvarez to FC Barcelona. The player himself failed to show up at the training ground for the second day in a row, citing ’illness’ as the reason. But life goes on, weather Alvares is coming to Barcelona or not (probably not), and coach Hansi Flick has to prepare for a much tougher opponent than Elche – Athletic Bilbao.Barca & Atleti's media war: "We remain interested in Alvarez" vs "There's a 0% chance of selling him to Barca"The Catalans will have a much tougher opponent in Mourinho’s Real this season, and points need to be won, with or without a proper number 9. After all, Barca signed Anthony Gordon and Karem Adeyemi, both of whom are capable of playing up front, not to count Raphinha, who started as the false nine last week. But the big news is Rodri’s premiere. Ballon d’Or winner is the biggest aquisition for Barca this season and he wasn’t involved against Elche, but will be tonight."The plan is for him to play a few minutes against Athletic. Rodri has more experience; he's the clear leader. Together with Pedri, he'll allow us to control the ball and the opposition. That's very important. We lost possession against Elche. Rodri is one of the best. We'll enjoy having them together" said the German.Adeyemi and Gordon impress in Barca's win over ElcheThe Catalans also announced another signing: a 31-year old Fenerbache goalkeeper Dominik Livaković signed a deal with Barca today. Barcelona's initial plan for Livaković did not come to fruition. It involved loaning the experienced goalkeeper to Dinamo Zagreb. The Catalans wanted to use the Croatian champions as a bridge to cover the final year of Wojciech Szczesny's contract. In other words, Szczcsny was supposed to spend the next 12 months as Joan García's understudy before taking over between the posts in June 2027. However, Dinamo had other plans and, after their Champions League campaign came to an end, moved to complete the signing of Dominik Kotarski from Copenhagen on a loan deal with an option to buy. So in the next days, Barca will decide what to do with Livakovic.LA LIGA – MATCHDAY 1WednesdayReal Madrid – Real Sociedad 4-1 (1-1)/Mbappe 40, 60, 80, Vinicius Jr 68 – Sucic 44/Thursday21.30: (2.00) Celta (3.40) Osasuna (3.90)22.00: (1.32) Barcelona (5.60) Ath.Bilbao (8.50)***odds are subject to change***