Barcelona travels to Ukraine with Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembélé and Ronald Araújo for the away match against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. The foursome has been found fit enough to be part of the competition selection. The return of Dembele is the most striking, as the attacker played less than a minute for Barcelona this season due to a lingering knee injury.
De Jong has recovered from a hamstring injury that kept him sidelined for two games. The midfielder dropped out last Sunday in the lost game (1-2) against Real Madrid and then missed Rayo Vallecano (1-0 defeat) and Alavés (1-1). Fati suffered from his right knee and, like De Jong, missed the last two matches. Araújo has been sidelined in the last five official games due to a thigh injury; Dembélé played his last game for Barcelona on May 22.
Interim coach Sergi Barjuán, the temporary successor to Ronald Koeman, is happy with the return of the four players. “It is important to us that there are players who can serve us again after a long injury period. It is a boost for everyone. It is important that they start making minutes. We have to take advantage of it.” Opposite the return of the foursome is the absence of Sergio Agüero and Gerard Pique. The attacker suffered from chest pain against Alavés, after which a heart rhythm disorder was discovered in hospital. Pique had to leave Alavés prematurely due to physical discomfort and is not yet fit enough.
Barjuán sees it as ‘an honor’ to lead Barcelona in a Champions League match. “The pressure will be high tomorrow. Now that the club is going badly, we can only earn back the respect by winning.” Two weeks ago, Barcelona only took the first points in the group stage of the Champions League against Dynamo Kiev (1-0). The troubled superpower has to pull out all the stops to hibernate in the billion-dollar ball, Barjuán knows. “Everyone knows the importance of this game, but we don’t want to drive ourselves crazy.”
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