FC Barcelona host Feyenoord in Champions League opener at a Camp Nou still under construction
FC Barcelona begin their Champions League campaign against Feyenoord at Camp Nou on Wednesday, September 9, in a stadium that remains a construction site more than a year after the club's return.
The match
FC Barcelona host Feyenoord on Wednesday, September 9, kick-off at 18:45, in the opening round of the new UEFA Champions League league phase. The previous evening, Manchester City had already opened the new format with a 2-0 win over Porto, as BBC Sport reported.
Barcelona's form and ambitions
Barcelona arrive in excellent shape, having won all four of their opening La Liga matches with a goal difference of 17-2, including a 5-0 away win over Valencia last weekend. At Tuesday's press conference, coach Hansi Flick said he believes his squad is capable of winning the competition: "We have a squad that can win this tournament... the level in training is very high." Nineteen-year-old Lamine Yamal, who has never won the trophy, said he hopes to change that with new signings such as Anthony Gordon, Rodri, Karim Adeyemi and João Cancelo. Notably, as nu.nl pointed out, neither Flick nor Yamal mentioned Feyenoord by name during the press conference. Yamal did, however, praise the Netherlands' new national coach, Xavi Hernández, who gave him his Barcelona debut in April 2023 at the age of 16, calling him "a fantastic coach."
Line-ups
Barcelona start with: Joan García; Koundé, Christensen, Cubarsí, Cancelo; Rodri, Pedri, Olmo; Yamal, Raphinha, Adeyemi, under coach Hansi Flick. Feyenoord, coached by Giovanni van Bronckhorst, line up with: Ernst; Read, St. Juste, Watanabe, Mármol; Vanhoutte, Valente, Zechiël; Hadj Moussa, Ferri, López. As Belgian outlet Sporza notes, Belgian midfielder Charles Vanhoutte starts for the Rotterdam side.
A stadium still unfinished
The match is played in a stadium still undergoing renovation, jokingly dubbed by locals "the new Sagrada Família." Work began in 2022; Barcelona had hoped to return within a year but only moved back into Camp Nou on November 22, 2025 — 909 days after their last match there, according to NOS correspondent Edwin Winkels. Full completion has now been pushed back to early 2028. The roof, the most complex and costly part of the project, has yet to be installed; total renovation costs are estimated at around €1.5 billion, more than the rebuild of rivals Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu. Roof installation is scheduled to start in summer 2027 and take four to eight months, during which Barcelona will again have to play elsewhere. Once finished, the stadium will hold 105,000 spectators.
