Lewandowski wants to end the curse: the starting lineup for Barcelona vs. Alaves

"This is not a crisis" assured Xavi Hernandez during last Friday's press conference. The coach is convinced that his team will improve soon and will return to the performances they had a short time ago. But it is undeniable that Barcelona are at their worst moment in the 2023/24 season: in the last few weeks they lost the 'Clasico' against Real Madrid and were far from the top of the La Liga standings, and in the Champions League they suffered a tough defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk.

So now they need to get a win against Alaves this Sunday at the Estadio Olimpico Lluis Companys in Montjuic. Otherwise, they will be far behind Girona and Real Madrid and will hardly be able to recover in the future.

Aware of the importance of this match, Xavi Hernandez will include all the stars of the squad in the starting lineup: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen; Ronald Araujo, Jules Koundé, Iñigo Martinez, Joao Cancelo; Pedri, Ilkay Gundogan, Fermin Lopez; Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Joao Felix. In addition, the substitutes will be Iñaki Peña, Ander Astralaga, Andreas Christensen, Alex Balde, Marcos Alonso, Marc Casado, Oriol Romeu, Raphinha and Ferran Torres.

Alaves have not had a good start to the season, winning just 3 games, drawing 3 and losing 6. As a result, they are in 14th place in the standings with 12 points, closer to the relegation zone than to qualifying for international tournaments. Coach Luis Garcia chose this XI: Antonio Sivera; Andoni Gorosabel, Abdelkabir Abqar, Rafa Martin, Ruben Duarte; Antonio Blanco, Ander Guevara, Luis Rioja, Jon Guridi, Javier Lopez; Samu.

He needs to end the curse

One of the players who has received the most criticism lately is Robert Lewandowski. The Polish striker has gone almost two months without scoring goals. The last time he netted was on September 23, in the 3-2 victory against Celta in Montjuic. But there is one detail in his favor: in this time he has missed many matches due to an ankle injury suffered vs Porto in Champions League.