Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is on the bench ahead of his debut for Barcelona on Sunday when Atletico Madrid come to the Camp Nou.
Xavi will be thankful for the reinforcements, with fellow new signing Adama Traore starting amid a number of first-teamers absent for the Catalans.
Ansu Fati, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia, Sergi Roberto, Samuel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet will all sit out the clash between fourth and fifth in the table.
A late winner at Alaves last time out eased Barcelona’s troubles, having suffered early exits in the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana. But they remain outside the Champions League qualification places and are a whopping 15 points off leaders Real Madrid.
Sergino Dest was the last back from international duty but did not feature in the United States’ World Cup qualifier with Honduras, and he is on the bench with Dani Alves starting at right-back.
Ousmane Dembele is among the substitutes after his January departure failed to come off.
Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Alves, Pique, Araujo, Alba; De Jong, Busquets, Pedri; Torres, Traore, Gavi.
