Soccer
Barcelona to play its first game post-Messi
Barcelona will play Real Sociedad in LaLiga’s first fixture of the 2021-22 season and Barcelona will see how they fare in this new post-Messi era.
It’s a new team without Leo Messi at Barcelona, but coach Ronald Koeman is confident in the team he has. On Saturday, it was confirmed that Memphis Defat, Eric Farcia, and Rey Manaj would register with Barcelona and it’s likely Depay will start on Sunday.
Koeman will have to decide whether to use Yusuf Demir or Martin Braithwaite in the attack, but it’s likely he’ll choose Demir as he’s had an impressive preseason.
Goalie Marc-Andre Ter Stegen is still out recovering from surgery, so we’ll see Neto starting at goal.
Here is what we can expect the Barcelona lineup to look like:
Neto
Sergino Dest
Gerard Pique
Ronald Araujo
Jordi Alba
Sergi Roberto
Sergio Busquets
Frenkie de Jong
Antoine Griezmann
Memphis Depay
Yusuf Demir.