Barcelona will start the New Year without Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Arthur Melo and Ousmane Dembele.
Ter Stegen is suffering with tendinitis is his knee and coach Ernesto Valverde revealed on Friday that the goalkeeper will miss Saturday’s derby away to Espanyol in LaLiga, plus the forthcoming Supercopa in Saudi Arabia.
Reports in the Catalan media claimed this week that the German may need an operation to resolve the issue, but the club are opting for conservative treatment at the moment.
Meanwhile, Barca have revealed that midfielder Arthur will be out for a further three weeks as he looks to recover from a pubis problem and Dembele is still sidelined with a thigh injury sustained in November.
Neto will come in for Ter Stegen in goal and in Arthur’s absence, Ivan Rakitic is in line to start again in midfield alongside Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong.
In attack, Antoine Griezmann will feature in his first Catalan derby, with the French forward set to line up with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
Carles Alena will play no part after leaving Barcelona to join Real Betis on loan this week.
Espanyol vs Barcelona predicted lineups
Espanyol XI: Diego Lopez; Javi Lopez, Espinosa, Calero, Vila; Darder, David Lopez, Roca, Vargas; Wu Lei, Calleri
Barcelona XI: Neto; Sergi Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Busquets, De Jong, Rakitic; Messi, Suarez, Griezmann
