Barcelona announced on Tuesday evening that the trio Ronald Araujo, Ilkay Gundogan and Robert Lewandowski will travel with the Catalan club delegation to Belgium to face Antwerp in the final round of the Champions League groups.
Barcelona's list announced on Monday was devoid of the names of the trio due to coach Xavi Hernandez's desire to rest them before the upcoming period, which is packed with important matches at all levels.
But suddenly, Xavi decided to return the trio to the list and play the match against Antwerp, which raised many questions about this move.
According to what was reported by the newspaper "Sport", the reason for Xavi's withdrawal from excluding the trio was the decision to continue for an additional day in Belgium after the match, and the coach wanted to reunite all the team players on a quick vacation before the expected difficult stage.
Barcelona will be without the injured quartet Marcos Alonso, Ter Stegen, Gavi and Inigo Martinez in the Antwerp match, and Frenkie de Jong joined them due to a fever.
It is noteworthy that Barcelona has qualified for the round of 16 of the Champions League, and the Antwerp match does not represent any value for the two teams, as the Belgian club exited the competition and also has no chances of occupying third place and reaching the European League.
It is also worth noting that Barcelona faces a difficult match with Valencia at the Mestalla on Saturday, a few days after losing to Girona 4-2 in the Spanish League.
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