Barça squad named for Leonesa

Ernesto Valverde has called up 18 players, five from Barça B, for Wednesday’s Round of 32 trip

The next Barcelona match is upon us! Fresh off a memorable victory in El Clásico, the Blaugrana start their Copa del Rey season with a trip to the city of León against Third Division side Cultural Leonesa, in the first leg of their Round of 32 matchup.

Ernesto Valverde has called up the following 18 players for the trip:

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Goalkeepers: 13. Jasper Cillessen, 30. Iñaki Peña

Defenders: 2. Nélson Semedo, 15. Clement Lenglet, 27. Juan Miranda, 33. Jorge Cuenca, 36. Chumi

Midfielders: 6. Denis Suarez, 8. Arthur, 12. Rafinha, 16. Sergi Samper, 20. Sergi Roberto, 22. Arturo Vidal, 26. Carles Aleñá, 28. Riqui Puig

Forwards: 11. Ousmane Dembélé, 14. Malcom, 19. Munir

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As expected for this one, Valverde gives rest to the older and more minute-heavy first team players as Marc-André ter Stegen, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suárez are all given the night off. Lionel Messi, Samuel Umtiti and Thomas Vermaelen miss out through injury, which opens the door for five Barça B youngsters (Peña, Miranda, Cuenca, Chumi and Puig) as well as Samper and Aleñá, who were the only first team players yet to be selected for a match this season.

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3):

Cillessen; Semedo, Chumi, Cuenca, Miranda; Vidal, Samper, Denis; Dembélé, Munir, Malcom

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The match kicks off at 9.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8.30pm GMT (UK), 4.30pm ET, 1.30pm PT (USA), 2am IST (India, Thursday), and you can join us to follow and comment all the action.

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Source: barcablaugranes.com