La Liga table-toppers Barcelona are set to be without a number of key first-team squad members for the club’s return to action this weekend.
Barca, of course, are set to kick the club’s pursuit of the La Liga title back into gear on Saturday night.
Sitting a full twelve points clear at the division’s summit on the back of a hard-fought downing of Clasico rivals Real Madrid prior to the international break, Xavi Hernandez’s troops will make the trip to The Estadio Martínez Valero, for a meeting with Elche.
The Blaugrana, for obvious reasons, will head into proceedings with sights set on all three points, with Elche, for their part, sitting dead bottom of Spain’s top-flight.
As alluded to above, though, such efforts will come with no fewer than four high-profile members of Xavi’s ranks unavailable for selection.
As per Barcelona’s official squad announcement, Pedri, Ousmane Dembele, Frenkie de Jong and Andreas Christensen are all set to sit out Saturday’s action.
The former pair remain sidelined with long-term fitness problems, whilst both De Jong and Christensen suffered injuries whilst on international duty last week.
On a more positive note for the Catalans, though, Ronald Araujo, after missing Uruguay’s friendly meetings with both Japan and South Korea last week, has returned to the matchday setup.
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