There have been changes since Barça’s last Liga fixture. Striker Munir and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo have left for Valencia (on loan) and Manchester City, respectively. They have been replaced by Juan Alcácer (signed from Valencia) and Jasper Cillessen (Ajax Amsterdam), and both have been included in the squad of eighteen announced on Saturday morning.
But goalkeeper Marc André Ter Stegen picked up a hamstring injury in training on Friday - meaning that it will either be Cillessen himself or Jordi Masip who starts between the posts against the Basques.
Andrés Iniesta, Jeremy Mathieu and André Gomes have also been declared fit. The first two make the squad, but Gomes will sit it out along with Gerard Piqué and Sergi Roberto.
The complete squad is thus as follows: Cillessen, Masip, Rakitic, Sergio, Denis, Arda, Iniesta, Suárez, Messi, Neymar Jr, Rafinha, Mascherano, Paco Alcácer, Jordi Alba, Digne, Aleix Vidal, Umtiti and Mathieu.
For Alavés, the big story is the arrival of winger Aleksandar Katai from Red Star Belgrade, while his Serbian namesake and compatriot Alexsandar Pantic has recovered from injury.
Coaches’ viewpoint
Speaking on Friday, Luis Enrique said: “We’ve had to deal with this game like we always do after internationals, with the players coming back on different days. We respect Alavés. It’s a newly promoted team with a new coach and new players … Pellegrino was once a colleague of mine, so it’ll be nice to see him again.”
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