Barcelona suffered another stutter in La Liga after they failed to beat Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night. As a boost though, even Real Madrid were unable to claim a victory in midweek and the point against Atletico can be seen as a positive one for the Catalan side.
That being said, manager Luis Enrique will surely want his players to get back to winning ways as soon as possible and the clash against Sporting Gijon at the Estadio Municipal El Molinón this weekend will be one which the 46-year-old will be demanding three points from.
Here is the strongest possible Barcelona lineup for the clash against Sporting Gijon –
Goalkeeper
Marc-Andre ter Stegen could do nothing to prevent Angel Correa scoring during the encounter with Atletico but it has to be said that the German international put in a solid display on the night, with his fine save to deny Diego Godin late on one of the highlights for the goalkeeper.
Ter Stegen has not managed to keep a clean sheet for quite a while now though and he will surely be keen on doing so against Sporting Gijon this weekend.
Defence
With Samuel Umtiti ruled out, Javier Mascherano started at the heart of the backline against Atletico and it was his unfortunate slip which allowed Angel Correa to find the equalizer.
That being said, Mascherano did put in a solid performance on the night alongside Gerard Pique and the Argentinean will surely continue in the lineup once again. In the full-back positions, the duo of Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto are expected to continue.
Midfield
Enrique went with his strongest midfield which included Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic against Atletico and the trio perhaps unsurprisingly performed wonderfully well during the encounter.
While Iniesta and Rakitic are expected to start on Saturday as well, Busquets was forced off early into the second half due to injury and it looks like Andre Gomes will be replacing the Spanish international in the starting lineup this weekend.
Attack
The superstar trio of Luis Suarez, Neymar and Lionel Messi were unable to find the back of the net against Atletico and to make matters worse, Messi has now been ruled out with injury for the next three weeks.
Arda Turan and Paco Alcacer are the two options for Enrique to replace Messi against Sporting and it looks like the Turkish international will be starting alongside Suarez and Neymar on the day.
