FC Barcelona announce squad for La Liga match against Real Sociedad

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana travel to Anoeta for a massive La Liga game against Real Sociedad, and Xavi Hernández has called up the following 21 players for Saturday’s clash:

Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Iñaki Peña, 26. Ander Astralaga

Defenders: 2. João Cancelo, 3. Alejandro Balde, 4. Ronald Araujo, 5. Iñigo Martínez, 15. Andreas Christensen, 17. Marcos Alonso, 23. Jules Kounde

Midfielders: 6. Gavi, 8. Pedri, 18. Oriol Romeu, 22. Ilkay Gündogan, 30. Marc Casadó, 32. Fermín López

Forwards: 7. Ferran Torres, 9. Robert Lewandowski, 11. Raphinha, 14. João Félix, 27. Lamine Yamal

The big news for this one is the much-anticipated return of Pedri, who is back on a matchday squad for the first time in two and a half months after a long recovery from a thigh injury. His comeback means only two players are missing this one through injury in Frenkie de Jong (ankle) and Sergi Roberto (calf) as Barça are finally close to being at full strength again ahead of a crucial run of fixtures to end 2023.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Cancelo, Araujo, Iñigo, Balde; Fermín, Gavi, Gündogan; Yamal, Ferran, Félix

The match kicks off at 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 4pm ET, 1pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Sunday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.

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