FC Barcelona announce squad for La Liga match against Espanyol

The next Barcelona match is upon us! After almost two months of wait the Blaugrana are finally back in action for the final La Liga game of 2022 in the Catalan Derby against Espanyol, and Xavi Hernández has called up the following 24 players for Saturday’s clash:

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

Defenders: 2. Héctor Bellerín, 4. Ronald Araujo, 15. Andreas Christensen, 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, 14. Memphis Depay, 22. Raphinha

The big news for this one is that Robert Lewandowski is available to play after Barça managed to get a court in Madrid to temporarily suspend his three-game ban, so the Polish striker will be in uniform for this one. The entire squad is healthy which is great news, and Ronald Araujo is back in uniform after more than three months away with a groin injury.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Balde, Kounde, Christensen, Alba; De Jong, Busquets, Pedri; Dembélé, Lewandowski, Fati

The match kicks off at 2pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 1pm GMT (UK), 8am ET, 5am PT (USA), 6.30pm IST (India), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.

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