Barcelona have confirmed their squad for the clash with Levante on Saturday and it’s fair to say that it hasn’t gone down entirely well with the fans.
The Catalan giants sit top of the La Liga table ahead of the weekend’s fixtures, but hold a slender one-point lead over rivals Real Madrid after 10 games.
SEE MORE: Video: Griezmann frustrated after Barcelona teammates ignore him in 5-1 win
In turn, they know that they can ill-afford to slip up this weekend, especially with perhaps one eye on the Champions League next week as they host Slavia Prague on Tuesday evening hoping to take another big step towards advancing to the knockout stage.
However, their focus will have to be on Levante first and extending their seven-game winning streak across all competitions as they are seemingly starting to build momentum and click into gear.
Despite that though, coach Ernesto Valverde has still managed to disappoint many fans, as seen in their tweets below, with the decision to snub Ousmane Dembele from his squad this weekend.
As noted by Sport, the Frenchman has served his two-match ban and was available for the encounter against Levante, and with no injury issue being reported it has been suggested that it was merely a technical decision from the Barcelona boss to leave him out.
Given his lack of playing time in recent weeks, that would surely have been all the more reason to include him and allow him to get minutes under his belt to regain full fitness to help get him going as he remains a key option for Barcelona with the different dynamic he provides in the final third.
That hasn’t gone down well with a number of Barcelona supporters who had hoped to see Dembele included, while Samuel Umtiti also misses out after failing to get the green light from the Barcelona medical staff to feature.
Elsewhere, Moussa Wague and Carles Alena are also missing, but Ansu Fati and Carles Perez get the nod and will hope to be given a chance to have an impact on the game at some point.
With Dembele absent, that will certainly give them a better chance of coming off the bench to get minutes, but it seems as though Valverde’s decision isn’t the most popular one he could have made and he’ll hope that those selected are enough to get all three points.
??? The 1??9?? making the trip south for #LevanteBarça! pic.twitter.com/3EbQe4K4zc
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 1, 2019
The decision to exclude dembele only serves suarez and nobody else, now he can play alongside messi and griezmann even if he drops his usual disaster class performance dembele wont be there as an option to sub him out. This team couldnt be more rotten and corrupted
— CP-05 (@Ben_Beckmann090) November 1, 2019
Dembele??
— Jose Rivera (@jose_12rivera) November 1, 2019
where is dembele? didn’t his suspension end last game?
— Hassan Afifi (@HassanAfifii) November 1, 2019
Where is Dembele ???!?? And for gods sake play griezmann as a striker tomorrow rest suarez!!!!!!! #ValverdeOut
— FCBNEWS (@FCBNEWS46481111) November 1, 2019
Dembele???
— EspaiBarca (@BarcaEspai) November 1, 2019
I miss Dembelé?
— mininglemons (@mininglemons) November 1, 2019
Where is dembele?? His suspension ended last game na??
— SHEWOLF ? (@rukki_e) November 1, 2019
Why not rest Suarez. Where is Dembele?#Valverde is a joke
— ?Mr Romantic ??? (@joeselfi) November 1, 2019
dembele???????
— Yasser (@iSuShi10) November 1, 2019
Free Dembouz ?
— H.M (@habibmatawalle) November 1, 2019
This is a disgrace where is dembele and Alena I’ve had it with him ???
— #valverdeout (@Sabg553) November 1, 2019
