Upon Barcelona’s return from the international break, it is a rare occurrence that the Catalans have encountered no injuries from this dreaded period. In fact, the news of Gavi and Ansu Fati returning to training has finally emerged during this period but both players will miss out on making the squad as they are still not fully ready to be deployed in the starting 11 against Girona.
Moreover, the extensive injuries of Frenkie De Jong, Ronald Araujo, and Andreas Christensen are going to keep them out of action till the end of the year.
Defense
In defense, Barcelona only really have the center back pairing of Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez who are healthy and ready to be a part of the starting 11 against Girona. Whereas, Ter Stegen will be guaranteed to start as usual in goal.
As the fullbacks, Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde are expected to start yet again. However, Flick could look to rest either of his fullbacks for the inclusion of either Hector Fort or Gerard Martin.
Midfield
In midfield, Pedri and Dani Olmo are guaranteed to start as Barca’s creative outlets in the central areas. Whereas, Marc Casado is set to be a part of the starting 11 against Girona as the team’s pivot to provide a defensive balance in midfield.
However, Hansi Flick could look to deploy Eric Garcia in place of Casado as Eric offers distributive prowess with superior defensive rigour.
Attack
For a game of this importance, the attack is guaranteed to include the usual combination of Robert Lewandowski, Lamine Yamal, and Raphinha deployed in their usual positions with the wingers likely to interchange their flanks for instances within the game.
This attacking trident has provided exceptional productive output thus far and the Catalans will need every ounce of this output in order to defeat a team that they have not defeated for nearly 2 years.
