FC Barcelona finished the first half of the season strong, beating Villarreal 2-0 and staying on top of La Liga.

After losing to Chelsea in November, the team has won seven straight games in all competitions. They've got some serious fire going into the next part of the season.

The first game of 2026 is a derby against Espanyol on January 3rd. Then, they're playing in the Spanish Super Cup, starting with a semi-final against Athletic Club on January 7th.

The final is on January 11th against either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid.

With all these big games coming up, coach Hansi Flick wants his injured players back ASAP.

Here's the latest on who's out and when they might return:

Gavi

This midfielder had surgery in September to fix his knee.

Gavi and the club are being super careful with his recovery to avoid anything bad happening. He's doing well, but he probably won't be back on the field until February.

Ronald Araujo

The team captain has been resting for a few weeks to get his head right after that red card against Chelsea. He's been working out to stay in shape.

Right now, it looks like Araujo will be ready to train again next week and be back with the team in early 2026.

Dani Olmo

This midfielder hurt his left shoulder during the game against Atletico Madrid on December 3rd. It was a shame, as he was playing great.

He's aiming to be ready for the Spanish Super Cup and has been working hard to make that happen. He's hoping to play a bit in the derby against Espanyol.

Pedri

This midfielder only played 15 minutes in the Copa del Rey to be careful, and then missed the Villarreal game because of a sore leg muscle.

The club doctors say he should be good to go for the derby against Espanyol on January 3rd.

Andreas Christensen

This defender played well against Guadalajara in the Copa del Rey but then tore his ACL a few days later.

He hurt himself in training before the Villarreal trip. He's chosen not to have surgery and will be out for about four months, so he won't be back until April at the earliest.

Wow, it's been a year since Marcus Rashford dropped that bomb about wanting out of Manchester United. Seriously, who thought he'd ever leave Old Trafford? He was like, "Mr. United," you know? Grew up there, became a star—especially while he was supposedly in top shape, which makes even less sense.

The last year has been wild for the guy. United's coach, Ruben Amorim, iced him out, and then he had a so-so loan thing at Aston Villa. Now he's killing it in Spain with Barcelona.

A year ago, he was making headlines for being a knucklehead. Got benched for the Manchester City game because his attitude in practice was supposedly garbage. And that came after, like, a year and a half of him playing badly, when he used to be the team's engine.

When Amorim publicly ripped into him, that seemed to push Rashford over the edge. He did that interview with Henry Winter and said he was ready for a different vibe.

He actually said he was thinking about leaving. “I am ready for what’s next.” These were his words.

I'm gone with no hard feelings. I'm not going to say any mean thing about Manchester United after this. That's just me.

If things are already bad, I’m not going to make them worse. Other players have left being nasty, but not me. I'll make a statement, and it will be the last you hear of it.

Rashford also said about being benched: Being left out of a big match sucks, but it happens. We still won the game. Let's keep it moving.

Sure, I was bummed out, but I'm older now; I deal with it better. What am I going to do? Start crying? Or work hard for the next chance I will get.

At that point, things were done between Rashford and Amorim. Rashford didn't even make the game-day roster for the rest of the month. On December 30, 2024, he sat on the bench against Newcastle doing nothing.

Since he hadn't played since December 12, Amorim said in January that Rashford needed to fix his game if he wanted to play again. He told everyone that he would rather play the 63-year-old backup goalie than pick a guy who isn't trying in practice.”

Rashford went to Aston Villa on loan at the end of January. He needed to boost his street cred after being frozen out, especially when they played PSG in the Champions League.

He got 4 goals and 6 assists in 940 minutes, but then he hurt his hamstring and went back to United. Then, he was put with four other guys who were told to stay away from the main team while they looked for a transfer.

Rashford got his wish in July, moving to Barcelona on loan. The loan goes until the summer of 2026. In the past five months Rashford has found his groove again. In 24 games there, he has 11 assists and 7 goals.

The dude has said he doesn't want to return to United. He wants to sign with Barcelona when his loan is up. It's not clear if Barcelona will use their £26 million option to buy him. With the way things are with Amorim, Rashford is probably done with United for good.