Two jersey number changes and another returning to his former shirt

Barça face Getafe on Sunday at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez in their opening fixture of the 2023/24 La Liga season. The defence of the league title claimed last season begins on the outskirts of Madrid and with some changes to shirt numbers with regards to last season. 

For this season both Ferran Torres and Raphinha will have new numbers on their back with Gavi returning to the shirt that he wore at the start of last season. 

Ferran Torres takes over the '7'

The striker from Valencia begins the official campaign after top scoring for the blaugranes in preseason. For the new season he will wear the number 7 that has been Ousmane Dembélé's shirt in recent seasons. It is a shirt number that Ferran wore in his days with the youth teams at Valencia and for Spain at U17 and U19 level. Ferran will be following in the footsteps of famous 'sevens' at Barça such Figo, Saviola, Larsson, David Villa and Pedro Rodríguez to name but a few. 

Raphinha takes Ferran's number

With Ferran taking '7', his number '11' has not stayed vacant for long. Brazilian winger Raphinha takes over the jersey after wearing the number 22 last season. The forward is no stranger to the number as it is the one he wore for a season at Vitória Guimaraes and another at Sporting Clube de Lisboa. Furthermore, '11' is also the number Raphinha wears when he represents the Brazilian national team. 

Former number 11s at Barça include Romanian Gica Hagi, Ballon d'Or winner Rivaldo, Bojan Krkic, Thiago Alcántara and his fellow Brazilian winger, Neymar.

Gavi back to '6'

In the case of midfielder Gavi, it is a question of returning to a former number. After wearing number '30' for the second half of last season, the teenager returns to the number he started the season with on his back, the '6'. The number has special significance as it is the one worn by current coach Xavi Hernández during his legendary 14 seasons stint at Barça as a player. 

Gavi now has the challenge of living up to the standards set by a former '6', who is now his coach.