FC Barcelona announce squad for La Liga match against Alavés

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana continue their road to the La Liga title with a trip to the Basque Country to face Alavés, and Ernesto Valverde has called up 18 players to be in uniform on Tuesday:

Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Jasper Cillessen

Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 15. Clément Lenglet, 18. Jordi Alba, 23. Samuel Umtiti, 24. Thomas Vermaelen

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

Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 11. Ousmane Dembélé, 14. Malcom

There are no fresh injuries or suspensions from the Real Sociedad game, and Thomas Vermaelen has recovered from a Vermaelen injury and joins the squad for this one. Ivan Rakitic gets a rest, which is good news, and he misses out along with Rafinha (knee), Jean-Clair Todibo, Jeison Murillo and Kevin-Prince Boateng. The last three are out per the manager’s decision.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Umtiti, Vermaelen; Roberto, Busquets, Arthur; Dembélé, Messi, Coutinho

The match kicks off at 9.30pm CET (Barcelona), 8.30pm GMT/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3.30pm ET, 12.30pm PT (USA), 1am IST (India, Wednesday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action with our live blog.

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