Memphis return seems close: Xavi hopes to use attacker at Barça on Tuesday Football

Memphis suffered a hamstring injury during an away game for the Orange against Poland on September 22 and has not played since. Xavi hopes to give the attacker playing minutes for the first time on Tuesday, as well as defender Andreas Christensen. “They are almost ready. We hope to be able to use them against Viktoria Plzen,” the trainer said at his press conference on Friday.

Nothing is at stake against the Czechs. Barcelona can no longer advance to the knockout phase of the Champions League and can no longer be overtaken by Plzen, the latter is with zero points. The fallen Catalan top club will play in the Europa League after the winter break, just like last season.

Before the winter break, Barcelona will also play against Almería (November 5) and Osasuna (November 8). Those are both competition games, in which Memphis normally does not have a fixed choice. The attacker played just two games in La Liga before his injury and remained on the bench for four league games without coming on.

Memphis is part of the provisional squad of the Dutch national team for the World Cup in Qatar. National coach Louis van Gaal will announce his final list of 26 players for the global final round on November 11. The Orange squad will not play practice matches in the run-up to the World Cup and will play for the first time at the World Cup against Senegal on November 21.