Barcelona will lock horns with Real Sociedad at the Reale Arena on Sunday night as they try to pick up their first win of this La Liga campaign. The Catalan giants were held to a scoreless draw by Rayo Vallecano at the Nou Camp last weekend, so they will be desperate to pick up the three points in this league game on the road.
Xavi will stick with his preferred 4-3-3 formation and will be forced to make one change for this game due to Sergio Busquets’ suspension. Franck Kessie is expected to play from the start at the centre of the park.
4-3-3 Barcelona Predicted Lineup To Face Real Sociedad
Defence
Marc-André ter Stegen will play in goal for the Catalan giants after keeping a clean sheet in his last league outing. Andreas Christensen will function alongside Eric Garcia at the centre of Barca’s backline as they focus on keeping the Sociedad attackers at bay this weekend.
Ronald Araujo could get another chance to shine at right-back while Jordi Alba looks to put his pace to good use as the left-back. Xavi will ask both of them to be adventurous in the opponent’s half so that they can offer enough support to the front players.
Gerard Pique will make up the numbers on the bench as he offers cover for the centre-back positions.
Midfield
Xavi could name a midfield comprised of Pedri, Franck Kessie and Gavi for this game. All three of them will have to dominate possession at the centre of the park and engineer some clear-cut chances for their teammates to win this game.
As mentioned earlier, Sergio Busquets is suspended for this game but Miralem Pjanic and Frenkie de Jong should be available for a spot on the bench.
Attack
Ousmane Dembele will focus on producing an influential performance on the left flank while Raphinha looks to weave his magic from the right.
Robert Lewandowski will once again spearhead Xavi’s attack on his own up top. The Polish striker failed to find the back of the net versus Vallecano. Hence, Lewandowski will be eager to register his first league goal for Barca when he laces up to face off against the Sociedad centre-backs this weekend.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ansu Fati will have to be content with a spot on the bench and might come on to make an impact in the latter stages of the game if required.
