Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba will make their final home appearances for Barcelona against RCD Mallorca on Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday.
Barcelona will hope to end the campaign at home in the 2022/23 season on a high when they welcome RCD Mallorca to Spotify Camp Nou on Sunday evening. And Xavi Hernandez has a few pressing concerns hampering his preparations ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Pedri and Ronald Araujo remain on the sidelines, with the duo continuing to recover from their respective fitness issues. But Jules Kounde is a part of the squad for Sunday’s game against RCD Mallorca.
Sunday’s fixture will also be the Camp Nou swansong for Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba. In addition, Barcelona will bid farewell to the hallowed ground this weekend. And Xavi discussed the topics during his pre-match press conference.
He said, “These days have not been easy to find motivation after winning the La Liga title, but tomorrow we have to say goodbye to Camp Nou, which has had many years of history, and add farewell to Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.”
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“It is an extra motivation. We want to have an excellent farewell and hopefully, we can offer our best version. Yesterday I thought about it, that it will be an emotional farewell and a bit sad. Camp Nou has been like my home. Everything is for a good cause, to have a better Camp Nou. It’s positive, but tomorrow it will be sad.”
Busquets and Alba should start in their Camp Nou swansong, with an emotional game beckoning. Alba will likely join Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christensen, and Sergi Roberto in the backline. So Kounde should find himself on the bench on Sunday. Meanwhile, Marc-Andre ter Stegen will take his usual spot between the sticks.
Busquets will sit at the base of the midfield unit, looking to keep things tight in the centre of the pitch. The Barcelona captain will also pull the strings from a deeper position on the pitch. And Frenkie de Jong and Gavi should join Busquets in the middle of the park.
As for the offensive unit, Robert Lewandowski will spearhead the Barcelona attack, with Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha being the two wide attackers. So Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati will be options on the bench for Xavi on Sunday.
Predicted Barcelona XI: ter Stegen; Roberto, Christensen, Alonso, Alba; Gavi, Busquets, de Jong; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Dembele
