Barcelona team news vs Alaves: Pedri and Lamine Yamal start, Alejandro Balde on the bench
Barcelona have lost two of their last three matches in all competitions, and have, for the most part, performed poorly for those 270 minutes. As such, a win and good performance will be required against Alaves on Sunday.
Xavi Hernandez has opted to make several changes from the side that lost to Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek, with the headline being Pedri earning his first start in almost three months. He and Fermin Lopez replaces Oriol Romeu and the suspended Gavi in midfield.
Further changes see Lamine Yamal and Joao Felix replace Raphinha and Ferran Torres in attack, while Jules Kounde and Inigo Martinez come in for Andreas Christensen and Marcos Alonso in defence. It means that Alejandro Balde remains on the bench, on the back of being dropped for Spain’s upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers.
Alaves are aiming for back-to-back wins in Catalonia, and they will look to take advantage of any uncertainty in the Barcelona camp. On-loan forward Samu Omorodion starts, having been on the bench against Almeria last weekend.
Barcelona are firm favourites to return to winning ways, but there is pressure on Xavi and his side following a poor run in recent weeks. Alaves will look to increase this during the 90 minutes at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
Image via Fran Santiago/Getty Images
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