Barcelona will entertain Real Betis at the Nou Camp on Saturday afternoon hoping to earn a win so that they move up a few places in the league table. The Catalans managed to secure a narrow 2-1 victory over Dynamo Kyiv in midweek, but they are still not playing their best football at the moment which will be quite worrying for the club’s supporters.
Ronald Koeman is expected to opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation and could bring Ousmane Dembele back to his starting XI for this weekend’s encounter versus Manuel Pellegrini’s men.
4-2-3-1 Barcelona Predicted Lineup To Face Real Betis
Defence
Marc-André ter Stegen will feature in between the sticks for Barca after failing to keep a clean sheet in his last outing. Gerard Pique will resume his defensive partnership with Clement Lenglet at the heart of Koeman’s defence as they hope to keep things tidy at the back so that they can restrict the opposition from scoring this weekend.
Sergi Roberto will be a guaranteed starter at right-back while Jordi Alba looks to impress on the other side as the left-back. Koeman will ask both of them to push high up the field and create some promising chances for Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi up top.
Ronald Araujo is a significant concern ahead of this game while Samuel Umtiti will definitely miss out due to a hamstring injury.
Midfield
Frenkie de Jong will anchor the midfield along with Sergio Busquests. The dynamic duo will be responsible for protecting the backline as well as orchestrating some meaningful openings in the final third. The dangerous trio of Ansu Fati, Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele will play just ahead of them as part of the Barca attack.
Riqui Puig and Miralem Pjanić will have to settle for a spot on the bench as they await their chance to shine as the second-half substitutes if Koeman decides to call upon their services.
Attack
Antoine Griezmann will lead the charge for the Catalan giants up top despite failing to find the back of the net in midweek. The French international needs to have a good game if Koeman’s men are to come away with maximum points from this home game. Martin Braithwaite will serve the role of being Griezmann’s back-up on the Barca bench.
