Barcelona missing two players for clash with Atletico Madrid

The Catalan outfit have been unsuccessful in overturning Lewandowski's three-match ban, so the Poland international will begin his league suspension against Diego Simeone's side.

Alba, meanwhile, is missing due to the red card that he was handed in the 1-1 draw with Espanyol in Spain's top flight last weekend.

"Both his absence and that of Jordi Alba is very sensitive. We will play with eleven and we will start with a '9'. You'll see tomorrow who it is. We've tried different profiles and tomorrow we'll make the decision," Barcelona boss Xavi told reporters during his press conference.

Barcelona have no injury problems, though, with Pedri brought back into the squad after missing the Copa del Rey contest with Intercity last week.

Xavi will make wholesale changes from the side that took to the field against Intercity, with Ronald Araujo potentially making his first league appearance since recovering from injury.

Sergio Busquets, Ferran Torres, Ousmane Dembele, Alejandro Balde and Jules Kounde were all substitutes against Espanyol in the league last weekend, but they could come into the side for this match.

"It's three points and nothing will be decided tomorrow, but if we win at the Metropolitano we'd be making a big difference," Xavi said when asked about Sunday's affair.

"It will be difficult for us to create chances and attack. It's a very important game, but it's not crucial for the outcome of La Liga.

"Cholo's teams are very hard-working defensively. He has been changing his system lately and it's difficult to predict how his team, which is chameleon-like, will play.

"Atletico have almost no defensive lapses, we will have to make the most of our chances because we won't have many."

Xavi has also suggested that both Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati will be in the XI against Atletico at Wanda Metropolitano.

"Ferran's work without the ball is very good. People don't value him, but he helps us in defence, and makes good runs. Ansu is more positional. He's different... both can play as a number nine and there is also the possibility of Memphis [Depay]," he added.

Barcelona have won 12, drawn one and lost one of their 15 league matches this season, scoring 34 goals and conceding just six times in the process.

Barcelona squad vs. Atletico Madrid:

Ter Stegen, Pena, Tenas; Bellerin, Araujo, Christensen, Alonso, Roberto, Kounde, E Garcia, Balde; Busquets, Pedri, Kessie, F de Jong, Gavi, Torre; Dembele, Fati, F Torres, Memphis, Raphinha