Barça squad named for United 1st leg

Ernesto Valverde has called up 22 players for the trip to Old Trafford

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana have traveled to Old Trafford for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals against Manchester United, and as usual in European away matches Ernesto Valverde has called up more than just 18 players for the trip. In total, the following 22 players were on the plane to Manchester:

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Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Jasper Cillessen, 30. Iñaki Peña

Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 6. Jean-Clair Todibo, 15. Clément Lenglet, 17. Jeison Murillo, 18. Jordi Alba, 23. Samuel Umtiti

Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 7. Philippe Coutinho, 8. Arthur, 20. Sergi Roberto, 22. Arturo Vidal, 26. Carles Aleñá

Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 11. Ousmane Dembélé, 14. Malcom. 19. Kevin-Prince Boateng

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Before we move on to the players in England, two members of the squad did not even make the trip: Thomas Vermaelen has another case of the Vermaelen and is out with muscle problems, while Rafinha is still out with a knee injury. Moving on to the 22 in the list, there is some huge positive news: Ousmane Dembélé has been cleared from his hamstring injury and is likely to be at least on the bench at Old Trafford.

When it comes to those who aren’t going to play we already know two that are definitely out: Todibo isn’t registered in the Champions League, and Iñaki Peña is the third goalkeeper. That leaves two more players to be cut from the final matchday squad, and they’ll probably be Murillo and Boateng.

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 9pm CET, 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Thursday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action in our live blog.

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