Barcelona will face Elche in LaLiga on Wednesday evening with a strongly changed starting eleven. Trainer Ronald Koeman chooses to make five changes from the previous matches of the Catalans against Paris Saint-Germain (1-4 loss) and Cádiz (1-1). Sergiño Dest, Clément Lenglet, Sergio Busquets, Ousmane Dembélé and Antoine Griezmann are missing. The catch-up game in the Camp Nou starts at 7 p.m.
Óscar Mingueza, as right back, and Samuel Umtiti, in the place of Lenglet, appear in the defense at the start signal. In midfield, Miralem Pjanic takes the place of Busquets, next to Frenkie de Jong and Pedri. In the attack, Koeman chooses Trincao and Martin Braithwaite as Lionel Messi’s companions.
Ronald Araujo is still not available to Koeman due to an ankle injury, who also does not have access to the long-injured Serrgi Roberto, Philippe Coutinho and Ansu Fati. The duel with Elche dates back to the first day of play, as Barcelona still played Champions League football in August and only started the competition season later.
After the recent missteps, Barcelona owes it to its stand to beat La Liga’s number eighteen. The Catalans will also play against competitor Sevilla on Saturday afternoon, which has one more point after 23 match days and is third in the ranking. In exactly a week, Barcelona and Seville will face each other again, but then in the second semifinal of the tournament for the Copa del Rey. Sevilla won the first game in southern Spain 2-0.
Barcelona lineup: Ter Stegen; Mingueza, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Pjanic, Pedri, De Jong; Trincao, Messi and Braithwaite.