Despite Barcelona's season starting with three consecutive victories, German coach Hans Flick has not been able to settle on a central defensive pairing, given the experiments and changes he made during the first three rounds of La Liga.

In the first round against Real Mallorca, Flick relied on the duo Araujo at right center back and Koubarsi at left center back, while Eric Garcia played as a right back, with Balde on the left side, and the team achieved a clean victory with a score of 3-0, which encouraged Flick to repeat the same defensive lineup in the second round against Levante.

Although they won the second match 3-2, conceding two goals raised the coach's dissatisfaction, especially since changing Koubarsi's position did not yield positive results. In the third match against Rayo Vallecano, Flick made significant adjustments to the backline, replacing the starting duo with Eric Garcia and Christensen in central defense, while Kounde returned to the right back position, with Balde alone maintaining his place in the lineup.

The match against Rayo revealed problems with ball progression from the back, alongside individual errors that led to dangerous counter-attacks, were it not for the brilliance of goalkeeper Juan Garcia, who saved the team from unpleasant surprises.

Flick justified these changes by the need for rotation and resting some players, but he is still searching for the ideal defensive combination, at a time when Koubarsi is expected to return to his natural position at right center back in the upcoming rounds.