Ronald Koeman's defensive headscratchers

Ronald Koeman's defensive headscratchers

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The Dutch coach has some tough calls to make in the coming week

After the international break, Ronald Koeman will have to assess the fitness of his squad. Araujo and Dest in particular. The former is injured, the latter played on Thursday morning.

Koeman has to pick a team to face Valencia on Sunday at 9pm

Dest, who scored a brilliant goal against Costa Rica, will be the last player to get back to Barcelona, without much rest ahead of the game.

Eric Garcia and Gerard Pique will likely line up at centre-back. The full-backs are where the issues start. Jordi Alba is fit while at right back it will likely be Oscar Mingueza or Sergi Roberto.

In the Champions League there are more problems, because Araujo will still be out and Eric Garcia is suspended. That means Lenglet or Umtiti have to play.

Lenglet has played in four games this season but only for a total of 96 minutes. 90 against Getafe, one against Real Sociedad and Levante, and four against Atletico Madrid.

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