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Selection headache for Barca ahead of Super Cup
MADRID: Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has a tough decision to make before his side’s first game of the season against Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup first leg on
MADRID: Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has a tough decision to make before his side’s first game of the season against Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup first leg on Sunday.
The Catalans travel to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan to face the Europa League winners in a repeat of May’s Copa del Rey final, which they won 2-0 after extra-time, but many of his usual first-team stars are lacking match fitness.
Regular starters Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique, among others, have only featured in two pre-season games, whereas the likes of Denis Suarez, Arda Turan and Munir El Haddadi have featured in all four fixtures thus far.
The coach must decide whether he wants to use the game to improve the condition of his ‘Gala XI’, with the second leg to come on August 17, or pick the players with the most match fitness at present.
However, the trickiest decision has been solved for him, with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen suffering a knee ligament sprain in training on Thursday, ruling him out for up to three weeks.
That means Claudio Bravo will start the game and postpones the need for the coach to settle a battle for position that has been brewing since both goalkeepers signed for the club in 2014.
Of the Spanish champions’ four new signings, Lucas Digne is the most likely to start, because left-back Jordi Alba has not featured at all in pre-season due to stomach pains.
