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Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Sergi Roberto, De Jong; Pérez, Griezmann, Rafinha
Subs: Fati, Rakitic, Sotorres, Firpo, Umtiti, Vidal, Melo
Believe it nor not, Barcelona kick-off 18th in La Liga. A shock opening-day defeat to Athletic Bilbao left the Messi-less champions pointless but they can get back on song with victory over Real Betis this evening. The season is of course only 90 minutes old and It seems unlikely that Barça will depart Camp Nou empty-handed given they won 15 of their 19 league on home soil last season, while Ernesto Valverde will demand more from those who flattered to deceive last time out. Betis are no mugs – they finished 10th last season – but defeat to Real Valladolid hardly set the pulses racing and leaves them with an unenviable task in Catalonia. In terms of team news, Barcelona say Messi is not part of the 18-man squad owing to a pesky calf injury despite returning to first-team training, which is a crying shame. And neither are Luis Suárez or Ousmane Dembélé.
Kick-off: 8pm (BST)
Written by Ben Fisher
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2019/aug/25/barcelona-v-real-betis-la-liga-live under the title “Barcelona v Real Betis: La Liga – live!”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
