Barcelona have named their squad for the Spanish Super Cup as they prepare to face Atletico Madrid in Saudi Arabia on Thursday night.
The Catalan giants will be hoping to see off their rivals and book their place in the Final on Sunday, where they will meet either Real Madrid or Valencia, should they advance themselves.
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Coupled with their La Liga commitments, it’s a busy month for Ernesto Valverde and his men, and so he’ll no doubt call upon the quality depth at his disposal at some point to ensure that his squad avoid picking up any more injuries.
As seen in the club’s tweet below, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Ousmane Dembele and Arthur have all been left out, with Sport noting that the trio have not recovered from respective injury setbacks and so will play no part this week.
In turn, it gives an opportunity for some of the youngsters at Barcelona to prove their worth, although despite the absence of three key senior players, the reigning La Liga champions still have plenty of world-class talent in the group to help them secure the first major trophy of the season.
All the usual suspects have been given the nod, with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann leading the way, while interestingly Jean-Clair Todibo will also make the trip.
As per Calciomercato, the 20-year-old has been linked with a move to AC Milan, but with that report suggesting that the switch could be set to collapse, the decision to call Todibo up would now suggest that it’s unlikely that he’ll move on this month, to Milan at least.
With that in mind, he’ll hope to get another chance to impress Valverde and avoid an exit in January, although as ever there is fierce competition for places in the Barcelona backline with Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti all making the trip too.
? #SupercopaBarça
? 8-12 January
? Saudi Arabia pic.twitter.com/PIdAU1FvHh— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 7, 2020