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Barcelona will be reunited with multiple familiar faces when they take on Feyenoord in their 2026-27 Champions League opener on Wednesday. Two former defenders will be at the Spotify Camp Nou, those being Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who is manager of the Eredivisie giants, and Mika Marmol. In the summer of 2022, Marmol left Barcelona for FC Andorra, before moving on to Las Palmas 12 months later. In July, he joined Feyenoord, for whom he has already made an impressive start to life in Rotterdam, and he will hope to earn his stripes again on Wednesday. Marmol spoke to the media on Tuesday as part of Feyenoord’s pre-match press conference for the Barcelona clash, and as per MD, he admitted that he is looking forward to seeing some familiar faces. He also spoke very highly of his former club, whom he expects to challenge for the Champions League this season. “I’m very happy to be back here. I think that just debuting in this competition is already special, and even more so that it is where I was trained. Family and friends will be in the stadium. They are always one of the favourites to win this competition. It has always been a club that is committed to the youth academy and it is being shown with the players who are in the first team.” Marmol not solely focused on Lamine Yamal battle Marmol, who is naturally a central defender, is poised to start at left-back on Wednesday, meaning he will be tasked with shutting down Lamine Yamal. However, he made it clear that both he and his teammates are not solely focused on the 19-year-old sensation. “It would be a mistake to focus only on Lamine. We know the potential that Barça have up front. We have to be a team, be together, have help throughout the game and be focused. It doesn’t change anything because since La Masia I’ve played as a full-back, I can adapt perfectly. I feel very comfortable.”