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FC Barcelona vs Alaves preview, team news and training

It could be his last game in office, depending on what you read and who you believe.

With news ranging from Laurent Blanc’s offer to replace him and the locker room ‘sacred cows’ in support of Patrick Kluivert’s appointment, FC Barcelona manager Quique Setien may have a lent time.

In that case, he’d better make the most of his team’s dead match against Alaves on Sunday afternoon: a worthless match given that Real Madrid have already won the title, and the last of this La Liga season.

For the away game, he obviously only has 12 first team players to choose from due to a string of injuries and suspensions.

While the French trio Antoine Griezmann, Samuel Umtiti and Ousmane Dembélé, plus Arthur, all nurses are knocking, one yellow card too many for Gerard Piqué, Ivan Rakitic and Junior Firpo means they too can’t take part.

Starting between the posts, then, Neto will be protected by a bottom line of Jordi Alba, Clement Lenglet, rookie Ronald Araujo and Sergi Roberto.

In midfield, pivot Sergio Busquets provides support to Riqui Puig and Arturo Vidal, although the inclusion of the newly formed Frenkie de Jong cannot be ruled out.

Above, Ansu Fati completes the attack trident on the front line with a Lionel Messi looking to win Pichichi and Luis Suarez.

For Setien, even if the draw itself may be without merit, it is “important to finish [the season] with better feelings than we finished the last game [a 1-2 loss to Osasuna] with”.

“We can’t change it anymore,” he continued, “but we can prepare for the future by thinking about the game [against Napoli] in the Champions League. The feelings left over from the last game must be positive. The team is aware that it is important to continue to strengthen ourselves. “

On the “new situations” for a club that could end the 2019/2020 season without silverware, Setien concluded in his pre-match press conference that, “There is one part that is similar and others that have changed. This team has been winning for 15 consecutive years and its management is totally different from other teams. There were specific situations that were difficult to manage “.

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