The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana kick off the new year with a massive Catalan derby against Espanyol in a huge La Liga game, and Hansi Flick has called up the following 23 players for Saturday’s clash:
Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Joan Garcia, 25. Wojciech Szczesny
Defenders: 3. Alejandro Balde, 5. Pau Cubarsí, 18. Gerard Martín, 23. Jules Kounde, 24. Eric Garcia, 26. Jofre Torrents
Midfielders: 8. Pedri, 16. Fermín López, 17. Marc Casadó, 20. Dani Olmo, 21. Frenkie de Jong,
22. Marc Bernal, 27. Dro Fernández, 43. Tommy Marqués
Forwards: 7. Ferran Torres, 9. Robert Lewandowski, 10. Lamine Yamal, 11. Raphinha, 14. Marcus Rashford, 28. Roony Bardghji
There’s some very good news for this one as Pedri (muscle) and Dani Olmo (shoulder) return to the squad after missing time with injury, adding much-needed depth to the midfield ahead of a busy January. The defense is very thin, however, as Andreas Christensen (knee) has joined Gavi (knee) on the long-term injured list and Ronald Araujo, who is back with the group after a month away for mental health reasons, is not physically fit enough to play just yet.
Predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1):
Joan; Kounde, Cubarsí, Martín, Balde; Eric, De Jong; Yamal, Raphinha, Rashford; Ferran
The match kicks off at 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Sunday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.
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