Barça squad named for Chelsea 1st leg

Ernesto Valverde has called up 21 players for the trip to Stamford Bridge

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana are in London for the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16 against Chelsea, and on Sunday Ernesto Valverde called up 21 players for the trip.

Only 18 will make the final matchday squad, but these are the 21 players who are in London:

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Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Jasper Cillessen, 31. Adrià Ortolá

Defenders: 3. Gerard Piqué, 18. Jordi Alba, 19. Lucas Digne, 20. Sergi Roberto, 23. Samuel Umtiti, 24. Yerry Mina, 25. Thomas Vermaelen

Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 6. Denis Suarez, 8. Andrés Iniesta, 15. Paulinho Bezerra, 21. André Gomes, 22. Aleix Vidal

Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 11. Ousmane Dembélé, 17. Paco Alcácer

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As Luis Enrique used to do when he was manager, Valverde called up all the available first team players for the trip so they could enjoy London a little bit. The big news here is that Vermaelen is fit again after missing over a month due to injury, which means there are no current injured players in the squad, which is a rarity this season.

There are two absentees, however: Philippe Coutinho is not available to play in the Champions League, while Nélson Semedo is suspended for yellow card accumulation and misses the first leg.

Predicted starting XI (4-4-2):

Ter Stegen; Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Rakitic, Paulinho, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Suárez

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The match kicks off at 8.45pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 7.45pm GMT (UK), 2.45pm EST, 11.45am PST (USA), 1.15am IST (India, next day), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.

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