Barcelona face a trip to San Siro on Tuesday as they look to bounce back to winning ways in the Champions League against Inter Milan.
The Catalans lost their last European tie to Bayern Munich before the international break—their first defeat of the season. Xavi Hernandez’s side have otherwise been in excellent form, winning six out of their seven games in La Liga.
They head to Italy on the back of a narrow 1-0 victory over Mallorca on Saturday, lifting them to the top of the La Liga table—after Real Madrid dropped their first points of the season against Osasuna.
Barcelona Team News
Jules Kounde, Memphis Depay, Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong all missed Saturday’s game at Mallorca after picking up injuries on international duty, while Hector Bellerin was also injured in training earlier this week.
Araujo will be sidelined for over a month now after having a successful thigh surgery, but Xavi is hopeful Kounde, Depay, De Jong and Bellerin will be back sooner.
Predicted Barcelona Lineup vs Inter Milan (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper
Marc Andre ter-Stegen is in top form this season and there is no looking past him in Barcelona’s goal for Tuesday evening’s fixture in Italy.
Defence
While Gerard Pique made a rare start at the heart of the Barcelona backline and did well against Mallorca, the veteran Spaniard is expected to make way for Eric Garcia. It is likely Garcia pairs up with Andreas Christensen in central defence against Inter Milan in the Barcelona lineup.
Jordi Alba was subbed off with 10 minutes remaining against Mallorca, which could be an indication that Xavi is planning to start the Spaniard at left-back in the Barcelona lineup. In Jules Kounde’s injury absence, Sergi Roberto could deputise at right-back at San Siro.
Midfield
Sergio Busquets will anchor the Barcelona midfield, as usual, looking to set the tempo of the game with his passing ability and reading of the game. He will be joined by Franck Kessie and Pedri in the engine room, as the trio look to stop Nicola Barella and Hakan Calhanoglu from creating openings in the final third for the home side.
Gavi, after playing the full game against Mallorca, will drop down to the bench.
Attack
In attack, there will be no surprises as to who starts up front with Robert Lewandowski firing goals left, right and centre. The Pole is in red-hot form and scored the winner at Mallorca, which should give him a lot of confidence ahead of Barcelona’s trip to Inter.
Lewandowski will be joined by Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha in attack in the Barcelona lineup. Dembele and Raphinha have been in brilliant form in recent weeks, and it would be a little unfair to leave either of them out of the starting XI.
