Barcelona boss Xavi will once again be unable to select a number of important first-team players for Saturday's La Liga contest with Elche at Camp Nou.

The Catalan outfit are struggling with a number of injury problems at the moment, with Sergino Dest, Memphis Depay, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Pedri, Ansu Fati and Martin Braithwaite all ruled out of the clash, while Gerard Pique is suspended.

Ousmane Dembele is also allegedly a doubt with the issue that he picked up against Osasuna, with the France international not involved against Boca Juniors in the Diego Maradona cup on Tuesday.

Youngsters Gavi and Abde Ezzalzouli are expected to feature in a front three, while there could be another start for on-loan Sevilla forward Luuk de Jong despite suggestions that the Netherlands international will be sent back to his parent club in January.

Yusuf Demir, meanwhile, will allegedly not play until February due a clause in his contract surrounding playing appearances, so Xavi has limited options in the final third of the field.

Barcelona could revert to a back four for this match, with Ronald Araujo and Oscar Mingueza potentially operating in the full-back positions for the home side.

Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong are certain to feature in the middle of the park, while there should also be a start for Nico Gonzalez, who was on the scoresheet against Osasuna last weekend.

Barcelona possible starting lineup: Ter Stegen; Araujo, Lenglet, Garcia, Mingueza; Nico, Busquets, F de Jong; Gavi, L de Jong, Ezzalzouli

Written by
Matt Law