Barcelona vs Xerez

After a difficult and laborious week, Barcelona will head down to Andalucia to take on Xerez in a true David and Goliath battle.

Coach Pep Guardiola has been forced to make a number of changes to his squad. Defender Gerard Pique has been left out to allow him to rest and recover from a few injury niggles while Sergio Busquets is suspended after being sent off against Real Madrid at the weekend. His place in the convoy will go to Jonathan Dos Santos.

Gabriel Milito’s return from an agonising 580-day lay off will have to be postponed as Guardiola decided to omit him from this trip. Yaya Toure, however, has been reinstated to the group having recuperated from the H1N1 infection, while all the other big guns including Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all in the squad, although it remains to be seen how big a part they will play in this game after straining past 10 days or so.

The following 19 men have travelled to Jerez:

Goalkeepers: Victor Valdes, Pinto

Defenders: Dani Alves, Puyol, Rafa Marquez, Chygrynskiy, Abidal, Maxwell

Midfielders: Xavi, Toure Yaya, Keita, Jeffren, Iniesta, Dos Santos

Forwards: Messi, Pedro, Ibrahimovic, Bojan, Henry  

Simon Schönbeck

Founder of this very site and serial entrepreneur.

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