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| Barça players train ahead of Real Sociedad game |
FC Barcelona pulled off a fine display at the Camp Nou last week to overturn a 2-1 first leg deficit and beat Athletic Bilbao 4-3 on aggregate to qualify for the 2016/2017 Copa del Rey quarter final where they were drawn against Real Sociedad.
Barça play the first leg in San Sebastián at the Anoeta, a stadium where the Cataláns have not picked up a win since 2007. Coach Luis Enrique has named a squad of 18 players to travel and take part of the game and the major exclusion is first choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
The star has been given a deserved rest in order to give second goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen a chance, Jordi Masip comes in in place of the German.
Another shoch omission by Luis Enrique was that of left-back Aleix Vidal. The star hasn’t been playing much recently but have put up great performances when given the chance, the latest being a perfect game that saw him grab his first goal for the club against Las Palmas on Sunday. Sergi Roberto, who didn’t take part in that game, returns to the squad in his place.
Defender Jeremy Mathieu was also left out of the squad along with Rafinha Alcántara who picked up an injury the week. Denis Suárez returns to the squad and is even likely to start on Thursday night. Gerard Piqué and Neymar are also back in the squad.
BARÇA SQUAD VS REAL SOCIEDAD
Goalkeepers: Jasper Cillessen, Jordi Masip;
Defenders: Sergi Roberto, Gerard Piqué, Javier Mascherano, Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne, Jordi Alba;
Midfielders: André Gomes, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Denis Suarez, Andrés Iniesta, Arda Turan;
Forwards: Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar, Paco Alcácer.