Barcelona predicted lineup vs Juventus - Pre-season friendly
- Barcelona begin their pre-season campaign against Juventus
- Potential debuts for Gundogan, Romeu & Martinez
- Kounde & Balde have both been nursing injuries
By Tom Gott
Barcelona are back in the United States for another pre-season tour, kicking things off this time around against Italian giants Juventus.
Xavi's La Liga champions have only recently returned to training and will definitely have a lot of rust to shake off, so expect minutes to be shared across a full squad of 22 players - three of whom should be debutants Oriol Romeu, Ilkay Gundogan and Inigo Martinez.
Here's how the boss could set up.
Barcelona predicted lineup vs Juventus (4-3-3)
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen - After ending the season chasing a defensive record, Ter Stegen will be looking forward to playing some low-stakes games for the next few weeks.
RB: Ronald Araujo - Xavi wants a new right-back and, with Jules Kounde not fully fit, it may fall to Araujo to fill in.
CB: Inigo Martinez - Veteran defender Martinez is set for his first run-out in the famous Blaugrana shirt.
CB: Andreas Christensen - Juventus wanted to sign Christensen when he left Chelsea but the Dane will have no regrets about his decision.
LB: Marcos Alonso - Alejandro Balde is nursing an injury and likely won't be risked here, so expect Alonso to get the nod.
DM: Oriol Romeu - 12 years after his last appearance for the club, Romeu is back to help fill the void left behind by Sergio Busquets' departure.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan - Barcelona's stacked midfield just got a whole lot stronger.
CM: Pedri - Pedri likes playing 1,000 games every season so he'll be used to racking up plenty of minutes during the summer.
RW: Raphinha - Manchester City have been linked with Raphinha as they prepare to lose Riyad Mahrez, but Xavi is a huge fan of the Brazilian and won't accept his departure without a fight.
ST: Robert Lewandowski - Lewandowski is the only natural striker in the squad so Xavi will have to get a little creative when he wants to rest the Poland international.
LW: Gavi - Ousmane Dembele's delicate fitness record suggests he won't be rushed back into action this early, whereas the industrious Gavi should be raring to go.