For the first time since the Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar Jr. trio was assembled, Barcelona will play one game without any of its biggest three stars. That was the decision made by Luis Enrique prior to the Copa del Rey game against Villanovense.
The absence of Messi was granted a long time ago when he was diagnosed with an injury that has him close to eight weeks away from action. After scoring three goals in Barcelona's most recent game, Luis Suarez has helped Barcelona climb to second place in La Liga standings with 21 points.
The team managed by Luis Enrique is behind Madrid because of a goal differential. Madrid is +18 and the Catalan side has a +8 goal differential. Barcelona has scored 20 goals so far this season and received 12 in nine games.
Out of those 20 goals, 18 have been scored by the MSN trio. Neymar is the leader in La Liga with eight, Suarez is up to seven and in second place with Cristiano Ronaldo, Nolito and Aritz Aduriz. Before Messi had to step out of action, he had already tallied three goals to his personal account in the domestic league.
Luis Enrique considers that this game is not crucial, and in case something goes wrong, they still have the second leg at home on 2nd December to make things right. The other players left out from the list are Claudio Bravo, Javier Mascherano, Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets. Andres Iniesta is the last name on the list of players that will be absent from the game at Romero Cuerda Stadium.
The focus for the team is to prepare their next game against Getafe, where they have a chance to become La Liga leaders. They also are taking into consideration that if they win their upcoming Champions League game against BATE, they will have secured a spot in the next round of the UCL.
