Catalan giants Barcelona will travel to Scotland on Wednesday night to face Celtic as the race for the top spot in the Champions League Group C toughens.
Luis Enrique’s MSN-led side lead Manchester City by just 2 points having lost on matchday 4 against the Citizens at the Etihad Stadium earlier this month, and anything apart from a win against Brendan Rodgers’ charges at the Parkhead could see them relinquish their spot to Manchester City.
Considering that the game is a must-win for Barcelona, here is how Enrique is very likely to field the best available players at his disposal for the encounter as he looks to pick up all 6 points against the Scottish giants this season.
Formation : 4-3-3
GK – Ter-Stegen
The German has kept 2 clean sheets this term and would hope to keep out any ball from his goal against the hosts.
Dembele is definitely up for a great task having seen his spot-kick get saved the last timeout against the young goalie.
LB – Alba
Barcelona lost the full-back to an injury since last month during the first leg against Manchester City, but he is back to full fitness having seen few minutes of action in weekend’s draw against Malaga.
Make way Digne!
CB – Pique
Their best defender is also back and played full minutes at the weekend. He definitely is starting against Celtic and also wants to score headers.
CB – Mascherano
With Umtiti still yet to fully recover, the veteran Argentine will continue his partnership alongside Pique.
Perhaps he would put in an impressive performance that will make him regain his shaky starting berth.
RB – Sergi Roberto
The makeshift full-back is adapting to his role even though he is still prone to some defensive errors.
Wearing the big shoes Alves left behind hasn’t come easy for the youngster, but it’s his only chance for a starting role at the moment, and perhaps a convincing performance on Wednesday night and much more consistency could see Barcelona renege on their plans to get a natural right-back in winter.
CML – Gomes
Not many have been convinced of his said quality since the Portuguese Euros 2016 winner arrived from Valencia in the summer.
With Iniesta yet to recover, he has another chance to prove his worth against Celtic as Enrique would probably pick him ahead of Arda Turan.
DMC – Busquets
Despite a little dip in form, the World Cup winning defensive midfielder still doesn’t have anyone able to play his role better than he does at Barcelona or even in the national team.
A sure starter against Celtic.
CMR – Rakitic
The Croatian was rested for large parts of weekend’s game and should return to the starting XI on Wednesday night.
LW – Neymar
The Brazilian would hope to add to his 2 Champions League goals against Celtic as he hasn’t been spectacular this season on the continent.
CF – Suarez
Unarguably the best out-and-out striker in the world at the moment, the Uruguayan, who returns to the fold after missing the Malaga draw to suspension also hasn’t been any extraordinary in the Champions League thus far and has found the back of the net just twice in 360 minutes, which came against the Scottish side.
They present him an opportunity to add to that tally, or maybe not.
RW – Messi
Can Kolo Toure et al stop Leo from adding to his 7 goals that have come just in 3 games?
He bagged an hat-trick against them at the Camp Nou and wouldn’t mind making history by getting another right in front of their fans.