Barcelona have been dealt a fresh injury blow ahead of the Champions League clash with Chelsea on Wednesday after announcing that Denis Suarez will miss the game.
The 24-year-oldpicked up an adductor muscle strain to his left leg during the Catalan Super Cup game against Espanyol last week and the club confirmed that the midfielder will be out of action for around 15-20 days, meaning that he will not get the chance to appear at the Nou Camp on this week.
Suarez has been in and out of the side this season under Ernesto Valverde, but with Andres Iniesta having also suffered a hamstring injury and in a race against time to make the clash, there was the potential of Suarez making the starting XI.
However, Valverde will likely bring in Andre Gomes to the midfield, with Paulinho, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic keeping their places in the middle of the park from the first leg.
Meanwhile, Chelsea will certainly be without David Luiz who is still struggling with a knee injury, while Tiemoue Bakayoko has not featured since being sent off against Watford last month and Ross Barkley has played just three matches all season.
Antonio Conte warned that his side must be completely focused to get past the La Liga leaders this week, saying: "Wehave to show great resilience.
"Thegame for sure will be totally different and we are paying against one of the best teams in the world. We must pay great attention and have the same focus and concentration of the first leg against Barcelona.
"Ithink we played a really great game, almost the perfect game if we didn't concede the goal at the last. It won’t be easy, we have to know this and at the same time we have to try to find the right solution to play this game.
"Thebest way sometimes is to speak to the players, to try to find together the right plan to play this game
