Ronald Koeman has announced his line-up for the practice game with Elche, which starts at 19.00 hours. The trainer from Barcelona is sticking to his experiment with presumably Lionel Messi in the number ten position. Behind the Argentine star Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets once again form the controlling block in midfield.

The 4-2-3-1 formation of Barcelona can be called offensive, because Koeman chooses four attackers on paper. Messi is likely to find Ansu Fati in front of him in the point of attack, while Antoine Griezmann and Philippe Coutinho come from the side. The roles of Fati and Griezmann could also be reversed. Coutinho and Messi could also change positions.

So Koeman sticks to his newly introduced tactical formation at Barcelona. Although Sergio Busquets has been the only controlling midfielder with the Catalans for years, under Koeman Barça plays with two controllers and a number ten (in this case probably Messi). Compared to the previous game, only central defender Ronald Araújo and striker Francisco Trincão have lost their base spot.

The rearguard is formed by Sergio Roberto, Gerard Piqué, Clément Lenglet and Jordi Alba. Neto is under the bar in the absence of the injured Marc-André ter Stegen. By the way, Miralem Pjanic, who came over from Juventus, is on the bench for the first time.

The setup of Barcelona: Neto; Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; De Jong, Busquets; Coutinho, Messi, Griezmann; Ansu Fati