The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana are in Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup semi-final against Athletic Club, and Hansi Flick has called up the following 24 players for Wednesday’s
clash:
Goalkeepers: 13. Joan Garcia, 25. Wojciech Szczesny, 31. Diego Kochen
Defenders: 3. Alejandro Balde, 4. Ronald Araujo, 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
The big news for this one is the return of Ronald Araujo, who is named in the squad for the first time in six weeks after taking a mental health break. The Uruguayan might still not make the final 23-man cut if he’s not physically ready to play, but his presence in the squad alone is good news for a Barça squad lacking in depth at the back. Two players have not made the trip and are ruled out for this one, as Gavi (knee) and Andreas Christensen (knee) have stayed home to continue their recovery, and Marc-André ter Stegen was sent home on Tuesday night after suffering an injury in training.
Predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1):
Joan; Kounde, Cubarsí, Eric, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Raphinha; Lewandowski
The match kicks off at 10pm AST (local time), 8pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 7pm GMT (UK), 2pm ET, 11am PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Thursday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.
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