Barça squad named for Girona trip

Ernesto Valverde has called up 19 players for Sunday’s Catalan Derby

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana are back in La Liga action with what promises to be a difficult game against Girona at the Montilivi Stadium, and Ernesto Valverde has called up the following 19 players for the short trip:

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

Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 15. Clément Lenglet, 18. Jordi Alba, 24. Thomas Vermaelen

Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 6. Denis Suarez, 7. Philippe Coutinho, 8. Arthur, 20. Sergi Roberto, 21. Carles Aleñá, 22. Arturo Vidal

Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 14. Malcom, 19. Kevin-Prince Boateng

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There are no fresh injury concerns from the Sevilla loss, so the big news here is the return of Messi and Busquets who were rested in midweek but return to play this one. Out due to injury are Ousmane Dembélé (ankle), Samuel Umtiti (knee) and Rafinha (knee), while Jeison Murillo and Sergi Samper miss out per the manager’s decision.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Suárez, Coutinho

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The match kicks off at 4.15pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 3.15pm GMT (UK), 10.15am ET, 7.15am PT (USA), 8.45pm IST (India), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action with our live blog.

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