Barcelona will regain Koundé for Clasico

As Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez himself confirmed in today’s pre-game press conference, Jules Koundé has returned from injury and is in Barcelona’s squad for tomorrow.

The news is a huge lift for the Catalans, as their defensive line is looking quite frail, and quite reliant on post-peak Gerard Pique and a young Eric Garcia. Ronald Araujo, Hector Bellerin, and Andreas Christensen are already ruled out due to injury, and Araujo in particular is a huge loss. New signing Kounde is their best available defender with Araujo out, and may play at right-back to help deal with Vinicius Jr on that wing.

Here is Barcelona’s full squad for El Clasico vs Real Madrid:

Ter Stegen, Gerard Piqué, Sergio Busquets, Ousmane Dembélé, Pedri, Robert Lewandowski, Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Marcos Alonso, Jordi Alba, Franck Kessie, Sergi Roberto, Frenkie de Jong, Raphinha, Jules Kounde, Éric García, Iñaki Peña, Alejandro Balde, Gavi, Pablo Torre and Arnau Tenas.

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