Barcelona out-of-favour midfielder could get an opportunity vs Mallorca – report

Barcelona will lock horns with RCD Mallorca on Friday at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys hoping to bag all three points to put some pressure on Real Madrid and Girona.

With the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Napoli coming up next Tuesday, Xavi is expected to rotate his troops tomorrow and rest some of his regulars to keep them fresh and ready for the European encounter.

Oriol Romeu to get a rare start?

As such, SPORT is reporting that out-of-favour midfielder Oriol Romeu could be in line for a rare start for Barcelona against Mallorca tomorrow night at Montjuic.

The 32-year-old midfielder has fallen out of favour in recent months and has found minutes extremely hard to come by, with Xavi preferring other players ahead of him.

In fact, recent weeks have even seen Andreas Christensen being deployed as the holding midfielder ahead of the former Girona man.

A rare start beckons Romeu? (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Since the turn of the year, Romeu has played only 93 minutes of La Liga football., indicating where he is currently in the pecking order, although the midfielder did deal with a knee sprain briefly.

However, with the Napoli game coming up next week, Xavi is likely to give Christensen a rest, which would open the doors for Romeu to start against Mallorca tomorrow night.

The report suggests that the midfielder has not fully recovered from his fitness issue but things have gotten good enough for him to be able to start.

In case he starts, Romeu is likely to be partnered by Fermin Lopez and Ilkay Gundogan in midfield with both Pedri and Frenkie de Jong out with injuries.