Advertisement

Barcelona Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Betis

Barcelona will look to bounce back from their Spanish Supercopa defeat to Real Madrid by making a positive start to their Primera Division campaign at home to Betis on Sunday.

The Catalans were well beaten by Los Blancos, 5-1 over two legs, but will now turn their attentions to La Liga and the visit of the Andalusian side.

The Blaugrana begin the league season at Camp Nou as they aim to win back the title they lost to Madrid in 2016-17.

Sunday's fixture will be a first for coach Ernesto Valverde as Barca boss in La Liga and here, Goal takes a look at everything you need to know ahead of the Camp Nou clash...



BARCELONA INJURIES




Luis Suarez is sidelined for four weeks after picking up a knee injury in the second leg of the Supercopa against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night.

Gerard Pique also went off with a muscle injury in that match and looks set to miss the fixture against Betis, while Andres Iniesta does not appear ready to return after he sat out the game in Madrid on Wednesday with a thigh problem.

Luis Suarez Barcelona
Luis Suarez Barcelona



BARCELONA SUSPENSIONS




Fortunately for coach Ernesto Valverde, Barcelona do not have any players suspended for the game against Betis this weekend.

Ernesto Valverde Barcelona
Ernesto Valverde Barcelona



BARCELONA POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UP




Barcelona started with a 3-5-2 formation at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, but coach Ernesto Valverde is set to revert to 4-3-3 for the game against Betis.

With Gerard Pique likely to miss out, Javier Mascherano should start alongside Samuel Umtiti in central defence, while summer signing Nelson Semedo is likely to feature from the outset at right-back.

Another recent acquisition, Paulinho, is in line to make his debut, although the Brazilian is expected to start on the bench.

Paco Alcacer will come in for the injured Luis Suarez in attack as Gerard Deulofeu continues in the role of the recently departed Neymar.

Barcelona XI Betis
Barcelona XI Betis



BETIS TEAM NEWS




Betis lost star player Dani Ceballos to Real Madrid earlier this summer, but the Seville-based side have been active in the transfer market, signing Mexican international Andres Guardado, former Barcelona winger Cristian Tello and ex-Manchester City midfielder Javi Garcia.

Another summer signing, former Montpellier midfielder Ryad Boudebouz, is still building up his fitness and is unlikely to play a part at Camp Nou. Talented young full-back Junior Firpo is not ready to start, either.

Betis finished 15th in La Liga last season, but begin an exciting new project under Quique Setien against Barcelona, having lost narrowly to both Inter and AC Milan in their last two pre-season fixtures.

Milan Betis
Milan Betis



BEST OPTA MATCH FACTS




  • Barcelona are unbeaten in their last 12 league games against Betis (winning 10 and drawing the other two), while their last defeat against the Andalusians was back in March 2008 at the Benito Villamarin (3-2).

  • The Catalans' last defeat in a season opener in La Liga came in August 2008 against Numancia, which was the first league game coached by Pep Guardiola. Since then, the Blaugrana have won each of their eight opening games in La Liga. And they have not lost a Liga opener at home since 1939 (a 1-0 defeat to Espanyol at Les Corts).

  • Lionel Messi has scored 349 goals in La Liga, and could become the second player from the top five European leagues to reach 350 goals for the same club, after Gerd Muller with Bayern Munich (365 in total).

  • Betis have only won two of their last 11 season openers in La Liga (drawing three and losing six), but both wins came away from home (1-0 in Granada in 2011 and 5-3 in Bilbao in 2012).



TV COVERAGE & KICK-OFF TIME


MORE:
Real Madrid for the title & Paulinho the worst signing? La Liga predictions for 2017-18
| Liverpool reject fresh €125m offer from Barcelona for Coutinho and maintain he's not for sale
| Barcelona vs Real Betis: TV channel, stream, kick-off time, odds & match preview
| Mbappe faces his greatest test to date amid PSG and Real Madrid interest



Barcelona versus Betis kicks off at 20:15 local time on Sunday and will be shown live in the UK on Sky Sports football from 19:10 BST.