Ernesto Valverde explains why he left Ousmane Dembele out of Barcelona squad

Ernesto Valverde has explained why he opted to leave Ousmane Dembele out of his Barcelona squad to face Levante on Saturday.

Dembele has missed the club’s last two La Liga outings due to suspension but had been expected to return for the trip to Levante.

However, the Frenchman was omitted from the travelling squad, and Valverde offered an explanation afret the match.

“It was a decision which I took. He hasn’t been playing and I decided to stick with the forwards who played the last games. If Dembélé is with us and we lose, I’ll be asked about Ansu... It’s always like that.”

Source | AS

Dembele will be hoping to return on Tuesday against Slavia Prague and could even start the match with Luis Suarez likely to miss out after picking up a calf injury on Saturday.