The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana welcome Celta Vigo to Camp Nou for the second leg of their Copa del Rey Round of 16 matchup after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, and Ernesto Valverde has called up 19 players for this one.
One of the players will be left out before the definitive 18-man squad is selected to be in uniform, but this is the full list:
Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Jasper Cillessen
Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 14. Javier Mascherano, 18. Jordi Alba, 19. Lucas Digne, 20. Sergi Roberto, 25. Thomas Vermaelen
Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 8. Andrés Iniesta, 15. Paulinho Bezerra, 21. André Gomes, 26. Carles Aleñá
Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 11. Ousmane Dembélé, 37. José Arnáiz
After resting Messi, Suárez and Iniesta in the first leg Valverde has called his three superstars for this one, which makes sense. There are three players missing through injury in Samuel Umtiti, Paco Alcácer and Philippe Coutinho, and Denis Suarez, Arda Turan, Rafinha Alcântara and Aleix Vidal won’t be in uniform per Valverde’s decision.
Predicted starting XI (4-4-2):
Cillessen; Roberto, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Dembélé, Busquets, Paulinho, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez
The match kicks off at 21:30 CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 20:30 GMT (UK), 15:30 EST, 12:30 PST (USA), 02:00 IST (India, next day), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.
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