Barcelona face Granada on Saturday in La Liga after a difficult Champions League clash mid-week against Borussia Dortmund. The Catalan giants drew 0-0 at the Signal Iduna Park, and looked off-colour in the game.
The Catalans are fifth in the league table, three points behind table-toppers Sevilla, after four games in the league. Let’s take a look a the possible team that Ernesto Valverde could put out against Granada on Saturday:
Jordi Alba will not be available having picked up an injury against Dortmund. Samuel Umtiti is still unavailable as well.
German goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen was Barcelona’s best player against Dortmund, making several saves including a penalty. He will start in goal for the Catalan giants on Saturday.
The Barca backline looked shaky against Dortmund and were dealt a massive blow after the injury to left-back Jordi Alba during the game. He has been ruled out of the game against Granada, with summer signing Junior Firpo most likely to take his place. Nelson Semedo, who had a torrid time against Dortmund, could drop to the bench and be replaced by Sergi Roberto for the trip to Granada.
The centre back pairing will be the same as that against Dortmund with Gerard Pique and Clément Lenglet starting in the heart of the defence. Samuel Umtiti is still out of contention due to injury.
Frenkie de Jong, Arthur and Sergio Busquets started as the midfield three for Barcelona in the last two games against Valencia and Borussia Dortmund, and it seems like the trio will start once again against Granada. de Jong scored his first goal for Barcelona last time around against Valencia, while Arthur registered an assist.
16-year-old Ansu Fati scored his second goal of the season against Valencia in the last La Liga game and earned his first Champions League start, where he did not do as well as the previous two performances. He could drop out of the Barcelona lineup for this Saturday’s game with the return of Lionel Messi, who was a second-half substitute against Dortmund.
Messi could get his first start of the season against Granada and we could see the trio of Messi, Luis Suarez, and Antonie Griezmann for the first time on Saturday.
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