Monday, October 23
 

Team News: Gerard Deulofeu starts for Barcelona

Gerard Deulofeu returns to the fold as Barcelona welcome Olympiacos in the Champions League.

Gerard Deulofeu returns to the fold as Barcelona welcome Olympiacos in the Champions League tonight.

Ernesto Valverde opts for an attacking, 4-3-3 lineup as he looks to extend Barca's 100% record in Group D, having played a 4-4-2 for the 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in the league on Saturday.

In all, there are four changes from the XI that started that game in the Spanish capital, with Ivan Rakitic dropping down to the bench to accommodate Deulofeu's inclusion alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in the frontline.

Paulinho is back in the midfield alongside Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta, with Andre Gomes making way, while Lucas Digne replaces Jordi Alba on the left of the back four.

Sergi Roberto is in for Nelson Semedo on the right, with Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti in the heart of the defence and Marc-Andre ter Stegen in goal.

As for the visitors, Takis Lemonis makes six changes from the side that started the 4-3 victory at Panionios on Saturday, with Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe expected to move up front in a 4-5-1 formation.

Karim Anarifard, who bagged a brace last time out, is absent from the matchday squad altogether, while Diogo Figueiras, Pape Abou Cisse and Saba are also omitted and Kostas Fortounis and Felipe Pardo drop to the bench.

Making up the midfield are Guillaume Gillet, Alaixys Romao, Sasa Zdjelar, Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez and Thanasis Androutsos, while Omar Elabdellaoui and skipper Alberto Botia come in alongside Dimitris Nikolaou and Leonardo Koutris in the back four.

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Digne; Paulinho, Busquets, Iniesta; Deulofeu, Suarez, Messi
Subs: Cillessen, Semedo, Rakitic, Denis, Mascherano, Alcacer, Andre Gomes

Olympiacos: Proto; Elabdellaoui, Botia, Nikolau, Koutris; Gillet, Romao, Zdjelar, Carcela-Gonzalez, Androutsos; Odjidja-Ofoe
Subs: Tachtsidis, Fortounis, Durdevic, Vukovic, Kapino, Engels, Pardo

Keep up with all of the action from Camp Nou tonight with Sports Mole's live text commentary here.

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