Barcelona facing problems in defence against Napoli & Valencia
Lenglet, Umtiti and Araujo all have injuries and Pique's suspended in LaLiga
Barcelona have two tough games coming up this week with a growing list of absences in defence. First they welcome Napoli in the Europa League on Thursday, then they travel to Valencia in LaLiga on Sunday.
The Catalan derby against Espanyol, which ended 2-2, has repercussions beyond two dropped points. Gerard Pique was sent off late on and will miss the Valencia game through suspension, while Ronald Araujo came off at halftime with a calf injury. The extent of the problem is not known yet, but it's not thought to be too serious.
Dani Alves can be added to the list of absentees. The Brazilian is not registered for the Europa League due to UEFA rules which only allow teams to add three new players to their squad in January. Xavi opted for Ferran Torres, Adama and Aubameyang. In Valencia at the weekend, Alves misses out through suspension after seeing red against Atletico Madrid.
Sergi Roberto, Lenglet, Umtiti and youngster Balde have all been missing for a while with injury problems. Therefore, if Araujo doesn't recover for Napoli, the backline could be Dest, Pique, Eric Garcia and Alba. And if he's still not back for Valencia, we could be looking at Dest, Mingueza, Garcia and Alba.
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