Rakitic dropped for Villarreal clash as Dembele returns to squad

Rakitic dropped for Villarreal clash as Dembele returns to squad

Último entrenamiento antes del encuentro ante el Villarreal / | PERFORM

Carles Perez also misses out due to the return of French forward Dembele

There's a big surprise in the Barcelona squad for Tuesday's game against Villarreal at Camp Nou: Ivan Rakitic has been left out of the 18. 

The Croatian midfielder made his first start of the season at Granada on Saturday but now Ernesto Valverde has not even found a place for him in his squad. 

With Rakitic out, Carles Aleña returns. The La Masia graduate has not made a matchday squad since the first league game of the season for technical reasons. 

Ousmane Dembele, though, does have a place. The Frenchman has returned from a hamstring injury and could make his first appearance since the loss to Athletic Club on the first day of the season. 

Dembele's return means there's no place for Carles Perez, who drops out, but Ansu Fati is involved once again. 

The full squad is:  Ter Stegen, Semedo, Piqué, Busquets, Todibo, Arthur, Suárez, Messi, Dembélé, Neto, Lenglet, Griezmann, Aleñá, Sergi Roberto, De Jong, Vidal, Junior and Ansu Fati.

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