FC Barcelona announce squad for La Liga match against Espanyol

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana are back after the international game with a big Catalan Derby against Espanyol in La Liga, and Ernesto Valverde has called up the following 18 players to be in uniform on Saturday:

Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 30. Iñaki Peña

Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 15. Clément Lenglet, 18. Jordi Alba, 23. Samuel Umtiti

Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 7. Philippe Coutinho, 8. Arthur, 20. Sergi Roberto, 21. Carles Aleñá, 22. Arturo Vidal

Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 14. Malcom, 19. Kevin-Prince Boateng

The international break brought some good news and bad news for Valverde: Luis Suárez used the two weeks off to recover from the ankle injury suffered against Real Betis, and is back in the squad; but Cillessen hurt his hip while playing for the Netherlands and is out indefinitely, which means Barça B keeper Iñaki Peña will be Ter Stegen’s backup. Also missing the Espanyol game through injury are Ousmane Dembélé (hamstring) and Rafinha (knee), while Jean-Clair Todibo, Jeison Murillo and Thomas Vermaelen are out per the manager’s decision.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Suárez, Coutinho

The match kicks off at 4.15pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 3.15pm GMT (UK), 11.15am ET, 8.15am PT (USA), 8.45pm IST (India), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action with our live blog.

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