Preview: Birmingham City vs Barcelona - prediction, team news, lineups

Barcelona will continue their preparations for their 2026-27 campaign with a pre-season friendly against Birmingham City at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park in Birmingham.

The Catalan outfit started their pre-season with a 4-1 success over CE Europa, while Birmingham have played four times already this summer, posting wins in each of those fixtures against Huddersfield Town, Solihull Moors, Burton Albion and Crewe Alexandra.

Match preview

Birmingham opened their pre-season against Huddersfield on July 10, recording a 3-1 win, before posting a 3-0 success over Solihull Moors on July 15; the Blues then beat Burton 1-0 and Crewe 2-1 to make it four victories from their four pre-season games.

Chris Davies' side will now step up a few levels when they host Barcelona, and it will be a special occasion for the Championship outfit.

Birmingham, who finished 10th in the Championship last season, will begin their 2026-27 campaign in the EFL Cup against Swansea City on August 8.

The Blues will then start their new Championship season against Sheffield United on August 15, before facing Bristol City and Wrexham in the next two matchdays.

Davies' team have made four signings so far this summer, with the biggest of those proving to be Jhon Solis, who has arrived on a permanent basis from Girona following a successful loan spell at the club during the 2025-26 season.

Barcelona decided against heading to the United States or Far East for a pre-season tour due to the 2026 World Cup and have instead travelled to the Midlands for a training camp, which will see them take on both Birmingham and Preston North End.

Hansi Flick's side will also take on Nottingham Forest and Udinese as part of their preparations for the new season before rounding off their pre-season against Al Ahly on August 19.

Barcelona's 2026-27 La Liga season will start against Elche on August 23, and they will again be the favourites for the title next term despite what has been an impressive summer so far for Real Madrid, who could yet bring Rodri to the club.

The Catalan side, who beat CE Europa 4-1 in their opening pre-season clash on July 24, have signed Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi this summer, while Robert Lewandowski has been their most notable departure, with the experienced striker leaving on a free transfer following the expiration of his contract.

Barcelona's squad for their Midlands training camp includes a number of first-team stars, in addition to players from both Barcelona B and the club's Under-19s.

Birmingham City pre-season form:

WWWW

Barcelona pre-season form:

Team News

Birmingham could hand a debut to Luis Vazquez, with the centre-forward completing a move to the Blues from Belgian giants Anderlecht.

Jay Stansfield is likely to be given the nod through the middle for the first whistle, while Patrick Roberts and Carlos Vicente are also expected to be in the side.

Head coach Davies could use different XIs in each half of the fixture, but there are again expected to be starts for both Dael Fry and James Beadle.

As for Barcelona, Adeyemi has been included and could make his debut in this match, but the Catalan outfit are without their eight World Cup winners.

Ferran Torres, Joan Garcia, Eric Garcia, Pau Cubarsi, Gavi, Dani Olmo, Pedri and Lamine Yamal are all on a post-World Cup break after helping Spain to triumph in the tournament.

Gordon has also been given extra time to recover after helping England to reach the semi-finals of this summer's competition.

Frenkie de Jong is a surprise inclusion given that he is dealing with a knee injury, while Marc-Andre ter Stegen has travelled, but the goalkeeper is still expected to leave Camp Nou this summer.

A strong starting side on Friday could include Ronald Araujo, Alejandro Balde, Marc Bernal and new signing Adeyemi, while Fermin Lopez could also receive some minutes after recovering from the injury that forced him to miss the World Cup.

Ex-Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert's son, Shane Kluivert, may start.

Birmingham City possible starting lineup:

Beadle; Osayi-Samuel, Klarer, Fry, Cochrane; Vicente, Solis, Iwata, Fujimoto, Roberts; Stansfield

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

Szczesny; Fort, Araujo, Martin, Balde; Christensen, Casado, Bernal; Adeyemi, Kluivert, Roony

We say: Birmingham City 2-2 Barcelona

Barcelona are missing a number of first-team stars but have travelled with a strong squad, and we are expecting an open and entertaining match to finish all square.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.