FC Barcelona will receive a huge line up boost with the return of Robert Lewandowski from injury.
FC Barcelona and their head coach Xavi Hernandez will receive a huge boost on Saturday with their striker Robert Lewandowski returning to injury.
The Pole has been out of action since an October 5 Champions League match at Porto where he was forced to leave the 1-0 win with a left ankle sprain.
An now, almost a month to the day, he starts again for the Blaugrana after picking up a few minutes in El Clasico last Saturday.
Barca lost that affair 2-1 at the Montjuic Stadium, which left them four points adrift of bitter rivals Real Madrid at the top of the table though much richer.
Aside from Lewandowski, Xavi fields pretty much the same team that was the best against Madrid for a good hour until Jude Bellingham took hold of the fixture with a stunning comeback double sealed in injury time.
In goal, it is Marc-Andre ter Stegen who is defended by a backline of Alejandro Balde, Inigo Martinez, Ronald Araujo and Joao Cancelo.
As suggested, Araujo returns to central defense after his time out at right back containing Vinicius Jr. where Cancelo is switched from the right wing.
With a space free up top, Lamine Yamal gets the nod with Raphinha, recovering from his own injury and like Lewandowski introduced late in El Clasico, perhaps not fit to start yet.
In midfield, Xavi still doesn’t trust Oriol Romeu, whose form has declined, to start at pivot.
Ilkay Gundogan, who scored Barca’s only goal of the game against Madrid, is deployed there instead, and sits behind a more advanced duo of close Andalusian friends Gavi and Fermin Lopez in midfield.
Completing the attacking trident, Felix occupies the left wing on the other side of Lewandowski to Lamine.
Though Barca suffered a huge setback when it was revealed that Frenkie de Jong is not ready to reintegrate into the squad, Pedri is expected to complete his own long-awaited comeback and make an appearance at some stage of the proceedings in Anoeta.
FC Barcelona Versus Real Sociedad First XI: Ter Stegen; Balde, Inigo, Araujo, Cancelo; Gundogan, Gavi, Fermin; Felix, Lewandowski, Lamine