FC Barcelona announce squad for Champions League season opener against Royal Antwerp

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana begin their Champions League journey with the group stage home opener against Royal Antwerp at Montjuïc, and Xavi Hernández has called up the following 21 players for Tuesday’s game:

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

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

Midfielders: 6. Gavi, 18. Oriol Romeu, 20. Sergi Roberto, 21. Frenkie de Jong, 22. Ilkay Gündogan, 30. Marc Casadó, 32. Fermín López

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

There’s only one change to the squad from last Saturday’s win against Real Betis as young midfielder Fermín López returns from suspension and replaces Unai Hernández. There are no new injury concerns and Ronald Araujo is already back in training after recovering from a calf injury, but the Uruguayan remains out for this one and joins the injured Pedri (thigh) on the absentee list for the European curtain raiser.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Roberto, Kounde, Iñigo, Balde; Gündogan, Romeu, De Jong; Yamal, Lewandowski, Félix

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

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