Barcelona crowd show support for struggling defender during first appearance of the season

The home crowd in attendance at Barcelona’s La Liga meeting with Racing Santander on Wednesday made use of the opportunity to showcase their support for defensive star Alejandro Balde.

This of course comes amid what has been a challenging opening to the new campaign for the Spaniard.

After enduring a largely difficult term from an individual standpoint in 2025/26, Balde was heavily linked with a Barcelona exit throughout the summer.

In the end, the 22-year-old stayed put, but manager Hansi Flick has since made clear that Balde sits well down the left-back pecking order in his squad.

As things stand, both summer signing João Cancelo and breakout youngster Xavi Espart are considered as being ahead of Balde when it comes to Barca’s first-choice XI.

With the Catalans cruising towards another three-point haul at the expense of Racing Santander on Wednesday, though, Flick threw his struggling full-back a lifeline.

After João Cancelo was on target to the tune of a brace, Balde was introduced in place of the Portuguese, for his first appearance of the season all told.

And as alluded to above, those in attendance at the Camp Nou from here quickly threw their backing behind their side’s one-time defensive prodigy, loudly chanting Balde’s name in unison.

Barcelona crowd show support for struggling

Conor Laird – GSFN