Barcelona can go top of La Liga with a victory over Real Sociedad at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Sunday afternoon. Real Madrid’s first defeat of the season 24 hours prior has opened the door for Hansi Flick’s defending champions, who will be determined to take him with both hands.
The lead-up to this one has been dominated by injury news. Barcelona will be without Joan Garcia and Raphinha after both players suffered blows in the midweek win at Real Oviedo, with the latter’s absence meaning that Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny will make his return to the starting line-up.
As per Sport, there will be four further changes made by Flick, with Jules Kounde, Frenkie de Jong, Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski returning to the line-up in place of Eric Garcia, Marc Casado, Ferran Torres and the aforementioned Raphinha.
Flick had hinted that he would not go with Lamine Yamal from the start, given that he has only just returned from a two-week lay-off caused by a hip injury, but Sport say that the 18-year-old will be preferred to Roony Bardghji on the right wing, with Marcus Rashford continuing on the opposite flank.
As for La Real, they will be aiming to carry the momentum from their first win of the season in midweek, and because of this, it’s believed that head coach Sergio Francisco will name the same starting line-up that faced Mallorca in Donostia-San Sebastian. Carlos Soler would keep his place in the team, as would former La Masia star Takefusa Kubo.
Can Barcelona return to the La Liga summit?
Barcelona will be confident of continuing their unbeaten start to the season, and they start this one as overwhelming favourites. A win would see them oust Real Madrid as La Liga leaders, so there is a lot of incentive for Flick’s side.
