FC Barcelona’s starting line up versus Juventus in Santa Clara should be full of surprises.
The starting XI that FC Barcelona field against Juventus in Santa Clara, California on Saturday evening should be full of surprises.
The Blaugrana left Catalonia on Wednesday to embark on a preseason tour of the United States which will take in four friendlies.
The first of these comes against the Serie A giants from Turin. In a similar fixture on American soil 12 months ago, Barca drew 2-2 with the ‘Old Lady’ thanks to a brace from Ousmane Dembele as Moise Kean also scored two goals on the other side of the ball.
Ahead of Raphinha, Dembele is tipped to start on the right flank at the San Francisco 49ers’ stadium as Ferran Torres gets priority over Ansu Fati on the left wing with striker Robert Lewandowski wedged between.
This means that head coach Xavi Hernandez will not opt for the four-man midfield system that worked so well in 2022/2023, and which saw Gavi deployed as a false left winger that would move into the middle and provide cover when left back Alejandro Balde flew forward.
Barca have signed three new players this summer in Ilkay Gundogan, Inigo Martinez and Oriol Romeu.
According to SPORT, however, none of them will start against Juve save for La Masia product Romeu, who acts as the sole pivot in place of the departed Sergio Busquets now plying his trade at Inter Miami with Lionel Messi.
This means that Frenkie de Jong is benched, and Franck Kessie is picked at ex-Manchester City skipper Gundogan’s expense to partner Pedri which completes a three-man midfield in front of Romeu.
Whether Kessie stays at the club or not, Gundogan will take preference over him when the La Liga season gets underway through an away trip to Getafe on August 13.
Picking him to line up against Juve could be seen as a strategic ploy to put the Ivorian in the shop window, and there have been reports from the likes of SPORT that Barca’s opposition tonight want to take advantage of the meeting to hold a summit and hash out a loan or purchase of the 26-year-old.
There could be similar logic in choosing Ferran and Eric Garcia in defense too, with both players sellable assets that are surplus to requirements under Xavi whom Barca would like to move on before the end of the transfer window if possible.
Garcia will partner Ronald Araujo in central defense, with newly-made skipper Sergi Roberto the right back and Marcos Alonso the left back as Balde recovers from an injury picked up towards the end of last term.
In goal, Marc-Andre ter Stegen will look to begin another campaign in fine form via clean sheets that had much to do with Barca winning their first La Liga title in four years back in May.
FC Barcelona versus Juventus kicks off at 19.30 local time in California or 04.30 on Sunday morning in mainland Europe.
Expected FC Barcelona Line Up Versus Juventus: Ter Stegen; Alonso, Garcia, Araujo, Roberto; Romeu, Pedri, Kessie; Torres, Lewandowski, Dembele