EUROPA LEAGUE: BARCELONA TO MISS PEDRI, DEMBELE FOR MAN UNITED RETURN LEG

During the second leg of the Europa League encounter against Manchester United on Thursday, Barcelona will be without a few of its usual starters due to injury, including playmaker Pedri and striker Ousmane Dembele.

Moreover, Gavi, the suspended midfielder, won’t be available to coach Xavi.

In the first leg of the elimination playoffs last week in Barcelona, the teams drew 2-2. At Camp Nou, the second half’s thrilling back-and-forth action featured the former European champions trading leads.

Barcelona, which left for Manchester on Wednesday, is still suffering from the revelation that it paid millions of euros over multiple years to a company owned by the vice president of Spain’s officiating committee, which sparked intense backlash against the club in Spain. Barcelona has refuted accusations of impropriety, claiming that while it paid for technical reports on referees, it never attempted to sway their judgments during games.

Pedri (right leg) and Dembele are out due to muscle injuries (left leg). In order to attack United with Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, Xavi may deploy strikers Ferran Torres or Ansu Fati, or he could add Sergi Roberto to an attacking midfield role in a more cautious formation.

Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Cadiz in the Spanish league, which put the Catalan club eight points ahead of second-place Real Madrid, saw Raphinha make his league debut off the bench. Roberto and Lewandowski both scored one goal.