Why aren’t Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde playing for Barcelona in the Copa del Rey?

Barcelona got 2024 off to a winning start against Las Palmas last Thursday, even if it looked for long, long spells as if they wouldn’t. Ilkay Gündogan’s injury-time penalty secured a crucial victory to keep Xavi Hernández’s side seven points behind Real Madrid and Girona in LaLiga before attention turned to Sunday’s Copa del Rey clash against Barbastro.

Barça will, of course, be expected by most to dispose of the fourth-tier club with relative ease, although they haven’t been performing anywhere near their best for a long while. On top of that, they have a lengthy list of absentees to contend with, to which Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde have been added to for the cup tie.

Unlike a whole host of their teammates, neither player has suffered an injury but they will not be involved in the game in Barbastro regardless.

Yamal to serve two-game cup suspension

16-year-old Yamal, who has made 25 appearances this season and came on for the final 20 minutes or so in Las Palmas, would likely have been in contention to start but must serve a two-game cup suspension. The winger was shown a straight red card in last season’s Copa del Rey Juvenil defeat to Málaga, with the ban incurred carrying over from the youth cup to its senior equivalent.

Balde laid low by illness after Las Palmas win

Balde, meanwhile, has started at left-back and played the full 90 minutes in each of Barcelona’s last four games. He would also have been in line to take to the field in the cup tie but has been struck down by illness, missing training on Saturday as a result. With the 20-year-old absent and Marcos Alonso and João Cancelo both injured, there is no recognised left-back in the squad for Sunday’s game.

Midfield duo Pedri and Gavi, as well as goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, remain on the treatment table alongside Alonso and Cancelo.