Barcelona will face off against Valencia at the Nou Camp on Saturday afternoon hoping to win and move up a few places in the league standings. The Catalan giants managed to pick up a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad in midweek which will give them a lot of momentum heading into the weekend’s league encounter at home.
Barca boss Ronald Koeman could opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation and is likely to make a few tweaks to his first-team for this league match versus Javi Gracia’s men. Both Philippe Coutinho and Clement Lenglet is expected to be named in Koeman’s starting XI this weekend.
4-2-3-1 Barcelona Predicted Lineup To Face Valencia
Defence
Marc-André ter Stegen will function in goal for Barca after failing to keep a clean sheet versus Real Sociedad earlier this week. As mentioned earlier, Lenglet will come back to the first XI to play alongside Ronald Araújo at the heart of the Catalans defence as they look to restrict the opposition from causing too many problems inside the penalty box.
Sergiño Dest will operate as the right-back while Jordi Alba looks to impress at left-back after his goal-scoring display in midweek. Koeman will give them the license to get forward and cause some problems for the Valencia full-backs out on the wide areas.
Midfield
Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets will assume the duties of the holding midfielders as they try to retain possession with conviction at the centre of the park. The talented trio of Martin Braithwaite, Philippe Coutinho and Antoine Griezmann will operate just ahead of them as part of the Barca attack.
Miralem Pjanic and Pedri will make up the numbers on the Catalans bench as they wait for their chance to shine as the impact substitutes if required.
Attack
Lionel Messi will lead the charge for the Spanish giants down the middle. The Argentine wing wizard failed to register a goal in midweek, so he will be desperate to get his name on the scoresheet when he laces up to take on the Valencia defenders this weekend.
Ousmane Dembele is a significant concern for this game. However, Francisco Trincao will be available for selection on the bench and could come to influence the game in the latter stages of the match if needed.
