The line-up of Barcelona for the crucial group match with Benfica in the Champions League has been announced. In his first European duel as head coach of the Catalans, Xavi opts for a starting eleven with, among others, Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay. It is still unclear whether Barcelona will play in a 3-4-3 system, with Jordi Alba as winger, or in a 4-3-3 system, with Ronald Araujo as fullback. The duel at the Camp Nou is led by the Russian referee Sergei Karasev and will start at 21:00.
The day before the game, Xavi said he did not yet know which players he would have at the starting signal. “Ilias Akhomach, Abde Ezzalzouli and Ferran Jutlgà cannot play. It remains to be seen how Sergiño Dest, Ousmane Dembélé and Sergi Roberto will be tomorrow. They are about to make their comeback. We have almost no real wingers left, perhaps Philippe Coutinho and Yusuf Demir, but the pure wingers are injured. We’ll see, we’re going for the win.”
Ansu Fati, Pedri, Martin Braithwaite, Sergi Roberto and Sergio Aguero are missing due to various complaints, but Dest and Dembélé, on the other hand, are part of the Barcelona match selection. The two received the green light from the medical staff of on Tuesday los Azulgrana. That also applies to Sergio Busquets, Òscar Mingueza and Nico González, who suffered minor injuries from the city derby against Espanyol (1-0).
Barcelona started with two defeats: both Bayern Munich and Benfica lost 3-0. However, the double confrontation with Dynamo Kiev was won 1-0 twice. Partly because Benfica was beaten twice by Bayern at the same time, Barcelona now has two points more than the competitor from Lisbon. The last group match of Barcelona is in two weeks at the stronger Bayern and the Catalans therefore want to leave Benfica behind for good tonight.
Barcelona line-up: Ter Stegen; Araujo, Pique, Lenglet; Busquets, De Jong, Nico, Gavi; Demir, Depay and Jordi Alba