One of the biggest stars of FC Barcelona’s first team was left out of the squad for the first matchday of La Liga by head coach Hansi Flick, which came as a surprise to some fans and spectators.

Ilkay Gündogan was expected to face Valencia at Mestalla in Spain late on Saturday evening.

In a 4-2-3-1 system, the German would have played as a central midfielder in front of pivots Marc Bernal and Casado, with wingers Raphinha and Lamine Yamal to his left and right respectively.

But around nine and a half hours before kick-off, it was almost midday in Catalonia, Barca published its squad for the opening game of the season and Gündogan’s name was not included, which caused a stir.

This immediately led to the conclusion that the veteran might be on the verge of being eliminated, as he is the only player besides Clement Lenglet who was considered fit enough to play against Valencia.

Flick has already confirmed that $60 million signing Dani Olmo, bought from RB Leipzig a week ago, is not physically fit enough to be included in the squad after a busy summer in which he won the Golden Boot and helped Spain win the European Championship.

However, it was not mentioned that Flick’s former captain of the German national team, which was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the European Championship against Spain, had not received the green light from Gündogan.

As Gerard Romero explained on X, citing anonymous sources, he was informed that “Gundo” was out because of the blow to the eyebrow he received on Monday in Barca’s 3-0 loss to AS Monaco in the match for the Joan Gamper Trophy.

Although Pedri could make a surprise comeback after an injury sustained in the Spain-Germany match, it would be madness to promote him to the starting eleven at the expense of Gündogan.

Instead, Pablo Torre, an impressive player from Barca’s recently concluded pre-season tour of the USA, could step in, as players such as Fermin Lopez, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong are currently unavailable.