Barcelona announce squad for Champions League 2nd leg against Liverpool

FC Barcelona announce squad for Champions League 2nd leg against Liverpool

Ernesto Valverde has called up 23 players for the trip to Anfield

By meekparagon on May 7, 2019

 

The next Barcelona match is upon us! The Blaugrana are in England for the second leg of the Champions League semifinals against Liverpool, and Ernesto Valverde has called up the following 23 players for the trip:

Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 13. Jasper Cillessen, 30. Iñaki Peña

Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 3. Gerard Piqué, 15. Clément Lenglet, 17. Jeison Murillo, 18. Jordi Alba, 23. Samuel Umtiti, 24. Thomas Vermaelen, 40. Moussa Wagué

Midfielders: 4. Ivan Rakitic, 5. Sergio Busquets, 7. Philippe Coutinho, 8. Arthur, 12. Rafinha, 20. Sergi Roberto, 22. Arturo Vidal, 26. Carles Aleñá

Forwards: 9. Luis Suárez, 10. Lionel Messi, 14. Malcom, 19. Kevin-Prince Boateng

As per usual in European away games, almost the whole squad traveled to England, except for the injured Ousmane Dembélé and Jean-Clair Todibo. Although there are 23 players and only eighteen can be in unifom, it’s easy to narrow the list down: we know Rafinha can’t play due to injury and Iñaki Peña is the third goalkeeper, so they’re definitely out; Wagué is also probably not going to be in uniform, so we’re down to 20; since Murillo and Boateng are usually out of the squad in big games, they’ll probably be cut too once the official team news are announced.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Ter Stegen; Roberto, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Vidal, Busquets, Rakitic; Messi, Suárez, Coutinho

The match kicks off at 9pm CET, 8pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 12.30am IST (India, Wednesday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action in our live blog.