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The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana travel to the Mestalla Stadium for the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final against Valencia, and Ernesto Valverde has called 18 players to be in uniform.
This is the full list:
Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Jasper Cillessen
Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 18. Jordi Alba, 20. Sergi Roberto, 23. Samuel Umtiti, 24. Yerry Mina
Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 8. Andrés Iniesta, 14. Philippe Coutinho, 15. Paulinho Bezerra, 21. André Gomes, 22. Aleix Vidal
Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 17. Paco Alcácer
The big surprise here is that Gerard Piqué is available to play after suffering what looked like a serious knee injury on Sunday’s match against Espanyol. But the Future President is not only back but also expected to start, which is a bit of a risk but is also understandable given Barça have a narrow 1-0 lead from the first leg to defend.
Four players will be missing out on this one: Ousmane Dembélé and Thomas Vermaelen are injured, while Denis Suarez and Lucas Digne won’t play per Valverde’s choice.
Predicted starting XI (4-4-2):
Cillessen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Roberto, Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez
The match kicks off at 9.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8.30pm GMT (UK), 3.30pm EST, 12.30pm PST (USA), 2am IST (India, next day), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.
VISCA EL BARÇA!