Ilaix Moriba is making his senior debut for Barcelona in tonight’s Copa del Rey clash at Cornella just two days after celebrating his 18th birthday.
The central midfielder is the only surprise inclusion in a really strong line-up from the Blaugrana, who are looking to avoid the banana skin at their Catalan neighbours – who stunned Atletico Madrid in the previous round.
Ilaix Moriba, 18, makes his debut for Barcelona against Cornella in the Copa del Rey tonight in midfield alongside Riqui Puig & Pjanic
— Samuel Marsden (@samuelmarsden) January 21, 2021
Barça XI#CornellàBarça
💪🔵🔴 pic.twitter.com/mugNQodsaV— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 21, 2021
Moriba is highly regarded as one of the brightest stars in the club’s youth ranks but he has not yet made a senior appearance for the Blaugrana.
Read more: Barcelona set to promote teenage star to first-team squad
The Guinea-born central midfielder most commonly plays in a playmaker role for Barca’s youth sides and he is one of La Masia’s brightest prospects and has put in a series of star appearances this year, as he becomes increasingly prominent in Barcelona news.
Neto in starts in goal in place of regular starter Marc-Andre Ter Stegen while Riqui Puig also gets a rare start alongside Moriba in the centre of the pitch.
However, Ronald Koeman has not rotated heavily with regulars such as Antoine Griezmann, Clement Lenglet and Ronald Araujo all in the starting line-up along with the likes of Oscar Mingueza, Miralem Pjanic and Martin Braithwaite.
That’s good
I expected more of bacelona that this
But at least we did well