Inigo Martinez set to start again for Barca in Champions League

Íñigo Martínez's great performance last Sunday against Athletic Club opens the door wide for him to start again this afternoon against Shakhtar. With Jules Koundé injured, Xavi Hernández has Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo and the Ondarroa-born centre-back healthy. 

Ronald was already rested in Montjuïc the other day after accumulating a lot of fatigue in the international window. It would not be surprising if Christensen was the one to rotate this afternoon in the Champions League. Which would 'lead to' Araujo-Íñigo as a tandem at the back.

It would not be the first time that the two have started together. They already formed a pair in Mallorca in a match in which individual mistakes condemned Xavi's team. Two goals in the first half as a result of lack of concentration. It should be noted that Ronald was returning from an important injury and that for Íñigo it was his first start. 

    

We will see what is the final call from the coach from Terrassa, but what is certain is that he ended up very happy with the performance of the former Real Sociedad and Athletic player. A complete match (his first with the Barça shirt), offering a recital of excellent passes (without going any further, a key one to Joao Félix for Marc Guiu's goal). Good in terms of anticipation. 

He formed a very reliable pairing with Christensen, who was a substitute against Porto (he has already said publicly that he was frustrated by that). In the Clásico, Christensen will almost certainly start with Ronald. 

Iñigo has only played 5 Champions League games in his career. The last one was 10 years ago. In 2013/14 he played in the top continental competition with Real Sociedad, in four defeats and a draw.