Xavi Hernández has called up 23 players for Wednesday’s clash
The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana play their final La Liga game of 2023 against Almería at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium, and Xavi Hernández has called up the following 23 players for Wednesday’s clash:
Goalkeepers: 13. Iñaki Peña, 26. Ander Astralaga, 31. Diego Kochen
Defenders: 2. João Cancelo, 3. Alejandro Balde, 4. Ronald Araujo, 15. Andreas Christensen, 23. Jules Kounde, 33. Pau Cubarsí, 39. Héctor Fort
Midfielders: 18. Oriol Romeu, 20. Sergi Roberto, 22. Ilkay Gündogan, 30. Marc Casadó, 32. Fermín López, 35. Unai Hernández, 40. Pau Prim
Forwards: 7. Ferran Torres, 9. Robert Lewandowski, 11. Raphinha, 14. João Félix, 27. Lamine Yamal, 38. Marc Guiu
Barça continue to be hit by the injury bug and have lost yet another player as Pedri has been ruled out for this one with muscle discomfort, but there’s optimism that the midfielder won’t miss too much time and could be back soon after the holiday break. He joins Marcos Alonso (back), Iñigo Martínez (hamstring), Marc-André ter Stegen (back) and Gavi (knee) as injury asbences, while Frenkie de Jong misses this one through suspension. Because of the absences in midfield, youth academy stars Unai Hernández and Pau Prim also get a call-up to help provide some depth in the middle.
This same 23-man squad will travel to the United States right after the game as Barça face Club América on Thursday night in Dallas in a pre-Christmas friendly to finish the year.
Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):
Peña; Cancelo, Araujo, Christensen, Balde; Fermín, Romeu, Gündogan; Ferran, Lewandowski, Félix
The match kicks off at 7pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 6pm GMT (UK), 1pm ET, 10am PT (USA), 11.30pm IST (India), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.
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