Two 4–2 wins with the same warning

Barça were 3–0 up three minutes into the second half. Raphinha set up Xavi Espart and Lamine Yamal before half-time, and Lamine scored a penalty he had won himself straight after the break.

Both Levante goals started with a Barça mistake.

Levante had already tested Joan García in the first half, and Gerard Martín went off injured at half-time. Both Levante goals started with a Barça mistake. With 11 minutes left, Espart played a short pass back towards Andreas Christensen, the two of them misread it, and Iván Romero, on as a substitute, scored from close range. Two minutes from time, a Marc Bernal error preceded Levante's second goal. Roger Brugué went past Pau Cubarsí, had his first shot saved by García and scored the rebound.

Karim Adeyemi made it 4–2 in stoppage time, from Bernal's pass. Both goals followed poor decisions in possession after Lamine and Pedri had gone off and the back line had been reshuffled, which is when a side protecting a three-goal lead most needs to keep things simple. Rayo turned a comfortable Barça lead into a contest at Camp Nou in August, and Levante did it again here.

Tenerife and Sevilla let Pere Romeu, the head coach, rotate without much risk, but Atlético Madrid went straight at his reshuffled defence. With Irene Paredes and Renée van Asten missing and Laia Aleixandri already out injured, Patri Guijarro played centre-back next to Martina Fernández and Sydney Schertenleib played right-back. Allegra Poljak scored first for Atlético.

Both Atlético goals came from balls behind a reshuffled defence.

Vicky López equalised from a Caroline Graham Hansen cross. Just after half-time Clàudia Pina crossed to the far post and Esmee Brugts put Barça ahead. Within six minutes Atlético had equalised with another ball in behind: Lucía Rodríguez got past the centre-backs and set up Synne Jensen.

The winner came from the same idea as Barça's second goal. Pina found the far post again, this time for Graham Hansen, and Brugts scored the fourth from a corner after Atlético had replaced their goalkeeper, Lola Gallardo. Both Atlético goals came from balls behind a reshuffled defence. Barça had more trouble defending transitions than they had against Tenerife or Sevilla, and winning anyway is more useful evidence than the nine goals scored in those two matches.

The 5–1 against Feyenoord took Barça to 22 goals in five matches in all competitions, a total the club had not reached since Ferdinand Daučík's side in 1950. Levante made it 26 in six. Four of the six opponents have conceded five.

Four of the six opponents have conceded five.

The goals have come from across the attack, with midfield runners contributing too. Raphinha scored in each of those first five matches, which no Barça player had done at the start of a season since Luis Suárez in 1958.

The five goals against Feyenoord came from five different moves: an early Lamine Yamal assist, a Karim Adeyemi shot from outside the area, a Pedri through ball for Raphinha, a Lamine free kick and a Lamine cross for Gabriel Jesus. At Levante the opener came from Xavi Espart running into the middle of the area.

None of this makes the season easier to predict. Elche, Athletic Club, Rayo, Valencia, Feyenoord and Levante are not Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid. No opponent has yet stopped Barça by shutting down one player or one pattern, and that is a better sign than the total itself.

Barça signed Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus so Flick would have options, and both scored against Feyenoord. Adeyemi, who had already scored at Elche, picked the ball up in the final third, cut inside and shot into the top corner from outside the area. Jesus replaced Dani Olmo just after Feyenoord scored, and two minutes later he turned in Lamine Yamal's cross.

Against Racing, the new forwards need to show what they can do from the start.

Those goals offer some encouragement, although Jesus came on with the result settled. They suggest Flick can rest a winger without losing pace in behind, or bring on a centre-forward without moving Raphinha into the middle.

This week that becomes a practical question. Racing de Santander visit Camp Nou on Wednesday, three days after Levante, and Flick is unlikely to start the same eleven. Gerard Martín went off injured at Levante, so at least one change may be forced. Adeyemi has already done his part, coming on for Anthony Gordon at Levante and scoring the goal that ended the comeback. Against Racing, the new forwards need to show what they can do from the start.

In early September FC Barcelona announced record income of more than €1bn and a positive ordinary result for the third season in a row. The audited 2025/26 accounts show what that announcement left out: after extraordinary items the club lost €18m, against a budgeted profit of €4m. The ordinary result was a profit of just €0.2m.

A €1m budgeted profit leaves no room for another write-down like the one that turned last season into a loss.

The main extraordinary charge was a €23m write-down in Barça Produccions, the company that holds the club's audiovisual business. The charge itself is an accounting adjustment, not cash leaving the club. The debt is more worrying: excluding Espai Barça, it rose by €138m to €607m.

On 19 September the Assembly, the club body of member delegates drawn by lot, senators and other qualifying members that approves the accounts, votes on those figures. It also votes on the 2026/27 budget, which projects €1.195bn in revenue, an 11% rise in sporting salaries and a €1m profit, and on more Espai Barça borrowing, including bonds backed by audiovisual rights. A €1m budgeted profit leaves no room for another write-down like the one that turned last season into a loss.