An insight into the planned personnel changes on the part of Barcelona boss Xavi for the club’s upcoming meeting with Athletic Bilbao has been provided on Friday.
Bilbao test
The Blaugrana are, of course, set to sit out this weekend’s action, on the back of their exploits at the Spanish Super Cup.
After travelling to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, only to be unceremoniously dumped out of the competition at the semi-final stage by Clasico rivals Real Madrid, Xavi and co. have been afforded a week to rest up by La Liga.
In turn, Barca will not return to the pitch until next Thursday.
Another cup outing lies in store, when the Catalan giants make the trip to San Mames, for a daunting Copa del Rey Last-16 showdown with Athletic Bilbao.
De Jong out/Pedri in
As alluded to above, though, despite his side not being set to get their campaign back underway for a full six days, Xavi has already come to the decision to shake up his starting XI.
As per a report from Javi Miguel of Diario AS, the Blaugrana boss is intent on dropping Frenkie de Jong and Ousmane Dembele, both of whom started against Real, to the bench.
In their places, meanwhile, will come Pedri and Ansu Fati, whose introductions off the bench in Riyadh sparked Barca into life, and so nearly culminated in the Catalans forcing a penalty shootout.