Barcelona are preparing to face Newcastle United without Lamine Yamal.
The stars will be out at St James’ Park for Thursday night’s Champions League contest, but not every star can feature.
Lamine Yamal has a groin injury which has ruled him out of the game against Newcastle United. While it would have been exciting to see him play, most Newcastle fans are happier playing a weakened Barcelona side.
While not having Yamal is a major blow, Hansi Flick still has plenty of options in attack that can hurt Eddie Howe’s side.
During their 6-0 win over Valencia on Sunday, Roony Bardghji started on the right of attack. However, he is not anticipated to retain his place in the side.
Raphinha celebrates scoring for Barcelona against Valencia in La Liga.
Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images
Raphinha set to start against Newcastle United
Instead, Barcelona will likely turn to former Premier League superstar Raphinha.
According to Spanish outlet Sport, Flick is likely to include Raphinha in his starting XI for the game against Newcastle United.
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He is someone that the Magpies know all about, with Howe wanting to sign Raphinha in 2022.
The £55million player normally operates on the left of attack, but the Yamal injury is going to result in him being deployed on the right. In turn, that should allow Marcus Rashford to start on the left.
It will be the 16th time in Rashford’s career that he has played against Newcastle United. In those 16 games, he has won nine, drawn two and lost four. Across those games, Rashford has scored five goals and provided four assists.
Barcelona could make another change in attack
Introducing Raphinha is not the only change that Barcelona could make in attack for Thursday night’s Champions League contest.
Ferran Torres led the line in the La Liga game with Valencia, but could be dropped to the bench in favour of Robert Lewandowski. That is the kind of rotation that Howe would love to utilise through the middle, but Yoane Wissa is injured.
Ahead of the game at St James’ Park, Lewandowski admitted he had a Newcastle shirt as a child. Unsurprisingly, it had Alan Shearer’s name on the back of it.
He even said he would do Shearer’s celebration as a youngster, but hopefully will not get the chance to utilise it on Thursday night at Newcastle United’s expense.