FC Barcelona announce squad for Champions League match against Viktoria Plzen

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana begin their European journey as they welcome Czech champions Viktoria Plzen in Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League group stage, and Xavi Hernández has called up the following 23 players for Wednesday’s game:

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

Defenders: 3. Gerard Piqué, 4. Ronald Araujo, 15. Andreas Christensen, 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

Barça have managed to stay injury-free up to this point in this young season, but there’s still one change from the squad that traveled to Seville on Sunday: Miralem Pjanic, who is very close to a move to the United Arab Emirates, is left out as he finalizes his transfer and is replaced by young midfielder Pablo Torre. Two more players also miss out as new signings Héctor Bellerín and Marcos Alonso are still short of match fitness and will watch from the stands per the manager’s decision.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Roberto, Kounde, Christensen, Balde; De Jong, Busquets, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Ferran

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

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