Alves out at the last minute

Dani Alves will miss Barcelona’s match against Athletic Bilbao this afternoon because of a sore left knee. Luis Enrique met his team at the Camp Nou at 9.30 this morning to announce his squad and the Brazilian has been left out “as a precaution”.

As well as the absence of Alves, the Barça boss has left out Rafinha, Bartra and Douglas “for technical reasons”. Rafinha arrived back at the Camp Nou after playing two matches for Brazil U21s and travelling the most miles during the international break alongside his fellow countryman Neymar. Bartra only featured for a few minutes for Spain during their international matches.

Surprisingly, without the services of Alves, Luis Enrique did not turn to Douglas, recently signed from Sao Paulo, to plug the gap. Adriano or Montoya will be the man to deputise in the absence of the Brazilian international.

Goalkeeper Ter Stegen is named in a match day squad for the first time since his move to the Camp Nou while Mathieu and Messi have also been given the all-clear to play by Barça’s medical staff.

Barça squad: Ter Stegen, Bravo, Montoya, Piqué, Mascherano, Mathieu, Jordi Alba, Adriano, Sergio, Xavi, Iniesta, Rakitic, Sergi Roberto, Messi, Pedro, Sandro, Neymar and Munir.

from Últimas noticias | Diario AS http://ift.tt/1m2UvP4

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