FC Barcelona announce squad for La Liga match against Villarreal

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana welcome Villarreal to Camp Nou for a very important La Liga game, and Xavi Hernández has called up the following 22 players for Thursday’s clash:

Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 26. Iñaki Peña, 36. Arnau Tenas

Defenders: 2. Héctor Bellerín, 3. Gerard Piqué, 17. Marcos Alonso, 18. Jordi Alba, 23. Jules Kounde, 24. Eric García, 28. Alejandro Balde

Midfielders: 5. Sergio Busquets, 8. Pedri, 19. Franck Kessie, 20. Sergi Roberto, 21. Frenkie de Jong, 30. Gavi, 32. Pablo Torre

Forwards: 7. Ousmane Dembélé, 9. Robert Lewandowski, 10. Ansu Fati, 11. Ferran Torres, 22. Raphinha

The injury crisis is slowly coming to an end as another player returns: Héctor Bellerín is back after missing the last four weeks with a calf injury and adds much-needed depth to the right-back position. With Bellerín’s return there are now three players currently out due to physical issues in Ronald Araujo (groin), Memphis Depay (hamstring) and Andreas Christensen (ankle), but both the Dutch striker and the Danish defender are expected back very soon.

Predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1):

Ter Stegen; Roberto, Kounde, Eric, Alba; Gavi, De Jong; Ferran, Pedri, Fati; Lewandowski

The match kicks off at 9pm CET (Barcelona), 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Friday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.

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