Marc André ter Stegen returns after his injury and does so as a starter and captain in Barcelona-Granada. The German goalkeeper is once again the Blaugrana’s number 1 after undergoing surgery on December 8 to overcome lower back pain. Ter Stegen has missed 17 games in the 91 days that he has been away from the playing field.
In defense, the goalkeeper will have an unprecedented pair of central defenders in front of him. Iñigo Martínez also returns to the starting lineup after playing a few minutes against Alavés in Vitoria. The presence of the Basque central defender does not imply that Cubarsí goes to the bench. The one who rests is Araújo. The young Pau Cubarsí, 17 years old and who debuted in January, remains in the eleven for the third game in a row. He and Ter Stegen have never played together.
After the good result of the Mendizorroza experiment, Xavi repeats with Andreas Christensen as defensive midfielder against Granada. The Dane, in this role as a positional pivot, allows the midfield creative players such as De Jong, Gündogan and Pedri to give more flight. If the formula is successful again, there is a good chance that Christensen will play in that position in Naples in the Champions League.
Less of a surprise is the presence of Lamine Yamal in the team. It is the sixth consecutive start for the youth player, who does not stop growing. The young winger, only 16 years old, has been in the lineup in all the games after the Cup tie at the Unionistas de Salamanca field, a duel that he could not play due to being suspended.
Barcelona’s lineup against Granada is Ter Stegen, Koundé, Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez, Cancelon, Christensen, De Jong, Gündogan, Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Lewandowski.
