How will Barcelona line up against Leganes?

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It’s Copa del Rey time again

Barcelona are back in Copa del Rey action on Thursday when Leganes visit the Camp Nou with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs.

Quique Setien’s men made hard work of their last match in the competition, a 2-1 win over UD Ibiza, and will need to bounce back from the weekend’s defeat to Valencia.

Let’s have a look at who might feature on Thursday:

Defence

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Neto is still out with a sprained ankle which means Marc-Andre ter Stegen is likely to start in goal, although there is a chance Barca B’s Inaki Pena could feature.

In defence we may get to see Ronald Araujo at centre-back, while Clement Lenglet may be his partner as he seems to be behind Samuel Umtiti in Setien’s pecking order so far.

Nelson Semedo and Junior Firpo both started against UD Ibiza and may get another chance at full-back at the Camp Nou.

Midfield

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Riqui Puig trained with the first team again on Tuesday after being ill last week and will be hoping for another start in the competition.

Barca B team-mate Alex Collado also took part in the session and will also be hoping for some first-team minutes against Leganes.

The 20-year-old replaced Ansu Fati against Valencia and could feature in midfield or further forward as a winger.

Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong and Arthur all started in the defeat against Valencia so may drop out, meaning Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal could come in.

Attack

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Barcelona have struggled to score goals under Quique Setien and are pretty light on options in attack due to the injuries to Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele.

They may also be without Carles Perez and Abel Ruiz who are being tipped to move away from the club this week but would otherwise probably have been involved.

The absences mean that Setien may have to go with a pretty strong attack and could mean Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi both start the game.

Possible XI: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Araujo, Lenglet, Firpo; Vidal, Rakitic, Riqui; Ansu, Messi, Griezmann.

How do you think Barcelona will line up against Leganes? Let us know your thoughts, predictions and line-ups in the comments below!

Source: barcablaugranes.com