Barcelona without four key players to face Alaves, Neymar and Ter Stegen return

What’s the story

Barcelona will be without the services of Gerard Pique, Arda Turan, Rafinha Alcantara and Javier Mascherano when they travel to Alaves for the La Liga fixture on Saturday. The four players will miss out due to respective injuries, which has restricted them from being a part of the squad to face the Basque club.

The former Manchester United defender suffered a thigh injury against Athletic Bilbao last week, but was involved in the midweek Copa del Rey clash against Atletico Madrid. However, Pique sat out of Friday’s training sessions and will miss out his side’s upcoming fixture.

Turan is struggling with a groin problem and Barcelona have not included the former Atletico star for their trip to Vitoria. In addition to this, they have not provided a timeline as to how long the duo will be on the sidelines as Mascherano joins them on the treatment table as he is struggling with a hamstring injury.

In case you didn’t know

Alaves were promoted to the La Liga after winning the Segunda Division last season. This is the Babazorros’ 12^th season in Spain’s top flight club competition and have enjoyed a good campaign so far in the 2016/17 season.

They started the campaign with a 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid the Vicente Calderón Stadium and in the third match, they sealed a 2-1 victory over Barcelona at the Camp Nou. Deyverson and Ibai Gomez were on the scoresheet for Alaves.

Mauricio Pellegrino’s side defeated Celta Vigo in order to make it to the final of the Copa del Rey, where they will face Barcelona later in May.

Heart of the matter

Luis Enrique will be without four key players when Barcelona take on Alaves. However, he will welcome Brazil forward Neymar and goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen to face Alaves. The duo missed the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final clash against Atletico.

What next?

It is yet to be decided whether the trio of Pique, Turan and Mascherano will be fit to face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League tie next week. In addition to this, Rafinha has a broken nose and he can be involved in the midweek fixture with a personalised mask to avoid further damage.

Sportskeeda’s take

Enrique will also be thinking of the Champions League first leg tie against PSG at Parc des Princes on Tuesday. Barcelona could struggle against the Ligue 1 outfit if Pique and Mascherano fail to be fit to face the French capital club.