Dortmundvs.Barcelona

The Uruguayan international has not kicked a ball under manager Hansi Flick, but there are reports stating he could travel to Germany and be a part of the squad for the matchday six encounter.

Fellow defender Andreas Christensen is still not ready to return though, suffering with an Achilles injury, so the central-defensive partnership could once again be Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi.

Despite still being only 17, Cubarsi has played 90 minutes seven games in a row for club and country, now being a regular in the Spain squad, and showing maturity beyond his years to feature regularly at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

This game will come too soon for Ansu Fati, but the weekend fixture against Leganes has been pencilled in for a potential comeback for him in his recovery from a hamstring issue.

Ferran Torres did recently return from a minor setback, and has been in good form since, netting in back-to-back games, but he is set for a place on the bench behind Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo and Raphinha.

Those three are set to support Robert Lewandowski, who joined an illustrious club with his goals against Brest on matchday five, becoming just the third player after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to score 100 Champions League goals.

Marc Bernal is the only other outfield injury absentee, with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen sidelined for the season, meaning Inaki Pena should deputise again.

While having much less experience, Pena has been preferred in goal over Wojciech Szczesny since the Pole came out of retirement to join the club earlier in the season.

Barcelona possible starting lineup:

Inaki Pena; Kounde, Cubarsi, Inigo Martinez, Balde; Pedri, De Jong; Yamal, Dani Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski

Written by

Andrew Delaney