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Barcelona left to make do without injured stars for Champions League trip

Xavi, FC Barcelona
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Ahead of the trip to San Siro, Barca may have to resort to a similar XI to the one they used at the weekend.

None of the injured Barcelona players have been able to return in time for the Champions League trip to Inter Milan.

Xavi Hernandez’s side face a crucial double-header against Inter in Group C, starting on Tuesday. They will take on the Nerazzurri at San Siro, but will do so without five key players.

These are Memphis Depay, Frenkie de Jong, Hector Bellerin, Jules Kounde, and Ronald Araujo.

Barcelona confirmed the news in their latest squad announcement on Monday morning. De Jong’s absence is especially a sow one. There was hope the Dutch midfielder could recover in time from a muscle problem for the trip to Italy, but it evidently came too soon for him.

Xavi has, therefore, called up Barca Atletic midfielders Marc Casado and Pablo Torre once again. Both youngsters were unused substitutes in Saturday’s 1-0 win at Mallorca in LaLiga.

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