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Barcelona vs Bayern XIs: Confirmed team news and starting lineups - Griezmann on the bench

REUTERS
REUTERS

Ousmane Dembele has been given the green light to return for Barcelona after nine months on the sidelines and the French forward is on the bench for the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich on tonight.

Dembele was injured in the Champions League group game versus former club Borussia Dortmund in November and suffered a serious hamstring injury as he closed in on a comeback in February.

The 23-year-old is yet to feature under Quique Setien, who replaced Ernesto Valverde in January, but the Barca coach revealed he could play some minutes on Friday.

Antoine Griezmann has been left on the bench as Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi start up front, with Dembele an option for late in the game.

Midfielders Sergio Busquets and Arturo Vidal both start following suspension, but Arthur Melo has been left out of the squad following his recent disciplinary problems and will not play for the Catalan club again ahead of summer switch to Juventus.

Centre-back Samuel Umtiti remains sidelined, while striker Martin Braithwaite is ineligible and can only feature in the final phase if a number of his team-mates test positive for coronavirus.

Barcelona’s on-loan midfielder Philippe Coutinho is also on the bench for Bayern.

Team news and starting lineups

Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Sergi Roberto, Vidal, Busquets, De Jong; Messi, Suarez

Subs: Neto, Inaki Pena, Rakitic, Dembele, Griezmann, Junior Firpo, Riqui Puig, Ansu Fati, Ronald Araujo, Monchu, Mingueza, Reis

Bayern XI: Neuer; Kimmich, Boateng, Alaba, Davies; Goretzka, Thiago; Gnabry, Muller, Perisic; Lewandowski

Subs: Ulreich, Hoffmann, Odriozola, Sule, Javi Martinez, Coutinho, Cuisance, Hernandez, Tolisso, Coman, Zirkzee, Musiala

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