Joao Cancelo has returned to Barcelona on loan for a second stint with the club but is going to have to wait to make his first Champions League appearance for Hansi Flick’s side this season.
The defender was a substitute against Real Sociedad on Sunday but is not in the squad for Wednesday’s Champions League tie with Slavia Prague.
Cancelo misses out for the simple reason that he’s not registered for the Champions League with Barca yet. This also means he’ll miss their final group phase game against
FC Copenhagen on January 28th.
Teams will then have the chance to amend their squads for the second phase of the Champions League, and it’s expected that Cancelo will then be included in Barcelona’s squad list for the competition.
Barcelona still have work to do to qualify for the next round of the Champions League but will be expected to beat Slavia Prague who are winless in the competition so far in 2025-26.
The Czech team also come into the game without having played competitively for a month due to a winter break
