Each new season carries within it the weight of what came before — the defending champion must prove that last year's triumph was not a peak but a foundation. On a Sunday afternoon in Elche, FC Barcelona opens its 2026-27 La Liga campaign, stepping onto the Martínez Valero pitch for the first time this season after a delayed start shaped by the rhythms of a World Cup summer. What unfolds is not merely a football match, but the opening sentence of a story whose ending no one yet knows.