Lamine Yamal will be looking to continue his brilliant start to the 2024-25 campaign when Barcelona take on Villarreal in Spain’s top flight on Sunday night.
The 17-year-old scored his first Champions League goal for Barcelona in Thursday’s 2-1 loss to Monaco, and he has now managed four goals and four assists in six appearances this season.
Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo, Marc Bernal, Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong and Gavi will all miss the contest through injury, with head coach Hansi Flick currently without a number of key players.
Meanwhile, Ferran Torres was sent off in the latter stages of the team’s 4-1 successover Girona in La Liga last weekend, so the Spain international will also miss out this weekend through suspension.
Eric Garcia is available, though, despite his red card against Monaco, and the Spaniard is set to start, having only featured for 10 minutes of the European affair on Thursday.
There had been some concern over a knock that Marc Casado suffered in the latter stages of the team’s last match, but the midfielder will be available for selection this weekend.
There are not expected to be any surprises in the Barcelona XI on Sunday, with Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha set to feature in the final third of the field.
Barcelona possible starting lineup: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Cubarsi, I Martinez, Balde; Casado, E Garcia, Pedri; Yamal, Lewandowski, Raphinha
