5 bold predictions for the 25/26 Barcelona season

FC Barcelona had a phenomenal 24/25 season by winning a domestic treble and making it the farthest they have in the Champions League in over half a decade. That's last season though, now it's a new season on the horizon and what happened last season doesn't matter. No one knows definitively what's in store, but we can still try and make 5 bold predictions for this Barcelona season. This list will go from most realistic to boldest shout.

Gavi cements a place in the Gala XI

The Gala XI is what local media labels the first-choice team, or the strongest eleven, under a manager. Last year's Gala XI featured the midfield of Pedri, De Jong, and Olmo but I could see Gavi taking the place of Olmo or De Jong. Gavi, before his ACL injury, had well over 2,000 minutes in his two seasons with the first team. He had his struggles last year but it wasn't surprising that a player coming off a major injury to have difficulties getting back up to speed.

Now, he's had a full preseason and has looked like he's getting back in to the groove of things, even if the preseason competition hasn't been great. Gavi is a tactically versatile player who presses well, wins the ball, and has a high technical floor and security. He can play a role similar to how Joao Neves did for PSG as they share a similar skillset. My guess is that in important games Barca will prefer the pressing and technical security of Gavi over Olmo.

Rashford outscores Vinicius

In this take, we are focusing on just league goals. Marcus Rashford is expected to start off his career at Barcelona as a backup player to Raphinha and Lewandowski. This doesn't mean he can't have a huge impact on this season and can still produce good numbers. For example, Ferran Torres managed 26 G/A as a bench player for Lewandowski last season with 10 of those goals coming in La Liga.

Ten goals in La Liga is just one less than Vini Jr managed in La Liga last year. Last year was a bad Vini Jr year, but he isn't a prolific scorer in the league as his Ballon d 'Or podium season he finished with 15 league goals. I expect him to get around 12-13 league goals as Mbappe with still lead Madrid in goalscoring and Jude being a capable scorer from midfield. As for Rashford, he should be able to have numbers slightly better than Ferran with his natural ability and having a system that helps wingers thrive. Rashford could be looking at around 14-15 league goals this season.

Lamine Yamal heats up Messi comparisons

Lamine Yamal has now becomes Barca's newest number ten which has not cooled down comparisons to Lionel Messi. He is not Messi but I believe he wil do something Messi esque that will inflame comparisons. He will score his first career hat-trick in an El Clasico this season. This is bold for two reasons, Lamine Yamal had nine league goals last season and he'd have to score a third of his league production against one of the best teams in the world.

The reason I could see this happening is due to the fact that Madrid was Lamine's favorite opponent last year as he racked up 5 G/A agaisnt Madrid in four games. He seems to have a way of showing up in big games and he will continue to improve his goalscoring as he gets older and gains more expereince. Maybe a hat-trick is far fetched but if anyone besides Messi could score their first career hat-trick against Madrid, I would bet on it being Lamine Yamal.

Barcelona get a league and Champions League double

Barcelona have never won the Champions League without also winning the league. It's a historical fact that Barcelona can't win the Champions League without being the best team in Spain. In this bold prediction that streak continues as Barcelona's potent attack continues to tear up defenses and the youth of this team learn from mistakes in the Champions League last year to win it this year. Defending their league title will be a challenge as both Madrid teams have made signings to improve, but I don't think they've done enough to close the gaps and Barcelona will repeat as Spanish champions.

Lewandowski isn't Barcelona's top goalscorer this season

This is where we get to bold take territory as Europe's second highest scorer could finally be slowing down at the age of 37. He banged in 42 goals for Barca in all competitions last season but had injuries at the end of the season and could see him slowing down the deeper in the season it got. Raphinha wasn't that far off with 34 goals in all competition and seems to be entering his prime. Barcelona have also brought in more attacking depth which could be to start managing Lewandowski's minute and slowly become less reliant on him as he enters the last year of his contract.

I don't expect him to fall off a cliff, but I do expect a cutback in his minutes due to his age and depth. Someone like Raphinha could easily end up being Barcelona's goalscorer in all competitions next season.