FC Barcelona announce squad for La Liga match against Villarreal
The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana play their first home game of 2024 as they welcome Villarreal for a big La Liga encounter at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium, and Xavi Hernández has called up the following 21 players for Saturday’s clash:
Goalkeepers: 13. Iñaki Peña, 26. Ander Astralaga, 31. Diego Kochen
Defenders: 2. João Cancelo, 4. Ronald Araujo, 15. Andreas Christensen, 23. Jules Kounde, 33. Pau Cubarsí, 39. Héctor Fort
Midfielders: 8. Pedri, 18. Oriol Romeu, 21. Frenkie de Jong, 22. Ilkay Gündogan, 30. Marc Casadó, 32. Fermín López
Forwards: 7. Ferran Torres, 9. Robert Lewandowski, 14. João Félix, 19. Vitor Roque, 27. Lamine Yamal, 38. Marc Guiu
Barça lost yet another key piece of the team due to injury as Alejandro Balde (hamstring) is facing the prospect of season-ending surgery, joining Iñigo Martínez (hamstring), Raphinha (hamstring), Marcos Alonso (back) and Gavi (knee) on the list of long-term absences. Sergi Roberto is also out for this one with an Achilles issue, and Marc-André ter Stegen (back) has returned to training but is not yet medically cleared to come back to the matchday squad.
Predicted starting XI (4-2-3-1):
Peña; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsí, Cancelo; Gündogan, De Jong; Yamal, Pedri, Félix; Lewandowski
The match kicks off at 6.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 5.30pm GMT (UK), 12.30pm ET, 9.30am PT (USA), 11pm IST (India), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.
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