Barça squad named for El Clásico 1st leg

Ernesto Valverde has called up 19 players for the first leg of El Clásico in the Copa del Rey semi final

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana welcome Real Madrid to Camp Nou on Wednesday night for the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi final matchup, and Ernesto Valverde has called up 19 players for El Clásico:

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Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 30. Iñaki Peña

Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 15. Clément Lenglet, 17. Jeison Murillo, 18. Jordi Alba, 24. Thomas Vermaelen

Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 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 or suspensions for this game, but one player is missing: Ousmane Dembélé, who was expected to be in the squad but is ruled out due to an ankle problem. Also missing due to injury are Jasper Cillessen (calf), Samuel Umtiti (knee) and Rafinha (knee). Jean-Clair Todibo and Sergi Samper miss out per the manager’s decision, and one more player will be cut from the final 18-man squad.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Vidal; Messi, Suárez, Coutinho

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The match kicks off at 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Thursday), and you can join our live blog to follow and comment all the action.

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