Barcelona veteran likely to start in midfield tonight against PSG – report

Less than six hours remain before Barcelona lock horns with PSG at Parc des Princes in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.

The Blaugrana will be eager to return home from Paris with an advantage and given their recent run of form, a win would not be out of reach.

Leading up to the match, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has almost his entire starting lineup figured out, but there remains some uncertainty over one position in the middle of the park.

With Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, and Andreas Christensen returning from their injuries, Xavi now has to choose between those three, Ilkay Gundogan, Sergi Roberto, and Fermin Lopez for the three spots in midfield.

Sergi Roberto in contention to start

Ilkay Gundogan is a guaranteed starter in midfield given that he has been Barcelona’s best player in the ongoing season.

Andreas Christensen’s performances in the pivot midfield role, along with his shorter layoff period due to injury, puts him in a strong position to start as well.

Earlier in the day, reports suggested that Xavi had decided to go in with Frenkie de Jong as the third midfielder alongside Christensen and Gundogan.

However, now, Mundo Deportivo reports that the likelihood of Sergi Roberto starting in the middle of the park has grown in the past few hours.

Set for a start tonight? (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

As per the update, the Barcelona manager has been rehearsing with the veteran club captain as a starter in the last preparations.

It must be noted that Roberto has been impressive in the last few games, playing a key role in the win against Napoli and Atletico Madrid last month while also starting against Las Palmas.

Meanwhile, De Jong would be returning after over a month without playing and against an intense PSG side, that could become an issue, especially with Christensen also recently coming back after a period on the sidelines.

During his press conference on Tuesday, Xavi did hint that he would give preference to players who are 100% fit physically, saying:

“Maybe in this match, we value more how the players are physically and tomorrow is a match to be at 100%. We won’t be able to think, they will push us for 90 minutes.”