For the first time ever, the Camp Nou welcomes the fellow Catalan club who are having a fairytale first season of top flight football (Saturday 8.45pm CET), as Barça look to consolidate their 7-point lead in the first of three league fixtures in just eight days.
The Barça squad reads as follows: Ter Stegen, Semedo, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Iniesta, Luis Suárez, Messi, Dembelé, Cillessen, Coutinho, Paulinho, Jordi Alba, Digne, Sergi Roberto, Aleix Vidal, Umtiti and Vermaelen. That means no places this weekend for Yerry Mina, Paco Alcácer, Denis Suárez or André Gomes. More here.
Join Francesc and Dan as they debate who Barcelona’s fourth midfielder should be – and it’s not necessarily the one Valverde is more likely to pick! Your hosts are then joined by the brilliant Eugenia Karolyi to answer your questions in another edition of La Ronda of Listener Questions. Not subscribed yet? Take action! We are on Apple Podcasts iOS App, the Android Google Play App and Spotify – and also publish exclusive extra content via Patreon!
Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele have broken records via their transfer fees and it is now time for both of them to start showing that they are worth what they cost.
In the case of the Brazilian, he signed with the Catalans precisely for moments like this, as he takes on Andres Iniesta’s role in order to give the club captain some rest. More here.
Two muscle injuries have hampered Ousmane Dembele’s integration at Barcelona, a young star that landed at the massive Catalan club with hardly 18 months as a professional. In that time, a lot has happened: became a professional, success at Rennes, transfer to Borussia Dortmund, France call-up, transfer to Barcelona and the operation on his ruptured tendon. It’s a lot to manage for a player who, at that time, was the second most expensive player in the world, after Neymar. More here.
Barcelona will face no action from FIFA in relation to an unpaid bonus to Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar. The Brazil forward completed a world-record €222 million move from Barca to PSG in August after the Ligue 1 giants sensationally met his release clause.
Neymar claims he is still entitled to a €30m renewal bonus after signing a contract extension at Camp Nou until 2021, although Barca maintain that terms of that agreement were breached when the 26-year-old joined PSG. More here.
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