Barcelona announce Rakitic, not Busquets, starts in the midfield

FC Barcelona have changed their starting lineup for El Clasico against Real Madrid and announced that Ivan Rakitic, and not Sergio Busquets, will start in their midfield line alongside Frenkie De Jong and Sergi Roberto.

Therefore, these are the official and confirmed starting lineups for the game, which will kick off at 20:00 CEST.

Real Madrid starting XI: Courtois, Carvajal, Varane, Sergio Ramos, Mendy, Casemiro, Kroos, Valverde, Isco, Bale, Benzema.

Barcelona starting XI: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Rakitic, De Jong, Sergi Roberto; Messi, Luis Suárez, Griezmann

Frenkie De Jong will most likely be Barcelona’s deep midfielder in their usual 4-3-3 formation. Busquets hasn’t been his former self for quite a while but De Jong doesn’t offer the same kind of defensive presence. Rakitic, Sergio Roberto and De Jong will surely try to control the tempo of the game against Real Madrid’s four-man midfield of Casemiro, Valverde, Kroos and Isco.

HOW TO WATCH, STREAM EL CLASICO

Date: 12/18/2019

Time: 20:00 CEST (local time), 02:00pm EST.

Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain.

Available TV: BeIN Sports (USA), Movistar La Liga (Spain)

Available Streaming: BeIN Sports Connect (USA), Fubo.TV (USA).

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