Rafinha gets the nod ahead of Ivan Rakitic in central midfield tonight as Barcelona host Villarreal in the battle of La Liga’s form sides.
The Brazilian youngster is preferred to the Croat, who was expected to retain his place from Wednesday’s 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals.
Elsewhere, usual League goalkeeper Claudio Bravo is back between the sticks, replacing Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Meanwhile for Villarreal, Coach Marcelino names a much-changed XI from the one which beat Getafe 1-0 midweek, with Jaume Costa, Mateo Musacchio, Bruno Soriano, Denis Cheryshev, Luciano Vietto and former Cules Jonathan dos Santos and his brother Giovani all coming into the fold.
Barcelona: Bravo; Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba; Busquets, Iniesta, Rafinha; Suarez, Messi, Neymar
Subs: Ter Stegen, Adriano, Mathieu, Xavi, Sergi Roberto, Rakitic, Pedro
Villarreal: Asenjo; Mario, Musacchio, Ruiz, Costa; Bruno, Pina, Dos Santos, Cheryshev; Vietto, Giovani
Subs: Juan Carlos, Dorado, Rukavina, Trigueros, Gomez, Gerard, Uche
Referee: Bikandi Garrido
