Xavi Hernandez is planning team changes for Barcelona’s midweek Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk.
La Blaugrana have been granted clearance to fly to Hamburg, to face the Ukrainian side, following the resolution of a hostage situation at the city’s airport.
Shakhtar are playing all of their Champions League games in Hamburg this season as part of ongoing security advice from UEFA due to the conflict in their home nation.
However, the change to a neutral venue is not the only expected switch for Barcelona, after Xavi’s charges sealed a 2-1 home win in the reverse fixture last month.
Xavi has named an unchanged squad for the trip to Germany, following a last gasp 1-0 La Liga win over Real Sociedad, but he will rotate, to keep his squad fresh.
As per the latest update from Diario Sport, Andreas Christensen and Marcos Alonso could come into a reshuffled defence, but the fit again Pedri is unlikely to be risked from the start.
Very interesting