FC Barcelona announce squad for second leg of Europa League Playoffs against Manchester United

FC Barcelona will play Manchester United in the second leg of the Europa League Playoffs on Thursday, and Xavi Hernández has called up 20 players for the game. Barcelona enters one of the most important games of the season missing three key players.

Pedri (hamstring) and Ousmane Dembélé (thigh) are out with injuries, while Gavi is out for yellow card accumulation. The good news for the team, however, is that Ronald Araujo has returned after missing the weekend match against Cádiz, and Sergio Busquets is expected to start after fully recovering from an ankle injury.

This will be the second leg of their match after a thrilling first leg at Spotify Camp Nou ended 2-2. This will be Barca’s sixth competitive away match against United, and they have only won one of the previous five visits.

Following a tight first half with plenty of chances for both teams but no goals, Marcos Alonso headed Barca into the lead last Thursday at Spotify Camp Nou. But, just as things seemed to be clicking, goals from Marcus Rashford and an own goal by Jules Kounde turned the tide at the other end. Barca dug deep to find a response from Raphinha and had several chances to win the game after the equaliser.

Xavi rested a few key players near the end of his side’s 2-0 win over Cádiz at the weekend. However, he has two major injury concerns in Ousmane Dembélé and Pedri, the latter of whom was injured in the first leg.

FC Barcelona squad for Manchester United clash

Goalkeepers: 1. Marc-André ter Stegen, 26. Iñaki Peña, 36. Arnau Tenas

Defenders: 4. Ronald Araujo, 15. Andreas Christensen, 17. Marcos Alonso, 18. Jordi Alba, 23. Jules Kounde, 24. Eric García, 28. Alejandro Balde

Midfielders: 5. Sergio Busquets, 19. Franck Kessie, 20. Sergi Roberto, 21. Frenkie De Jong, 29. Marc Casadó, 32. Pablo Torre

Forwards: 9. Robert Lewandowski, 10. Ansu Fati, 11. Ferran Torres, 22. Raphinha

Predicted starting XI (4-3-3)

Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, Balde; Roberto, Busquets, De Jong; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Ferran