Barcelona will fly out to England today as they gear up to take on Manchester United in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League knockout playoffs on Thursday night.
The first leg, played at Camp Nou last week, ended in a 2-2 draw, setting up for an enticing second round at Old Trafford tomorrow.
And ahead of the contest, Mundo Deportivo is reporting that Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez is still yet to finalise his plans regarding the starting XI at Old Trafford.
It must be remembered that Barça will go into the match on Thursday without two of their starting midfielders. Pedri misses out after picking up an injury during the first leg at Camp Nou, while Gavi is suspended for an accumulation of cards.
However, the Blaugrana have been boosted by the return of club captain and midfield general Sergio Busquets. And, as per the report, Xavi intends to start the veteran superstar against Manchester United on Thursday.
Busquets missed the first leg due to an ankle injury, but returned to training last weekend. However, he was not used by Xavi in the La Liga encounter against Cadiz. The 34-year-old is now set to return to the lineup against United.
However, as per the report, Xavi is yet to decide on the complete makeup of his team. The 43-year-old has been deploying four central midfielders quite a fair bit this season, especially in the big games.
But without Pedri and Gavi, that formula could be affected even though Busquets is back in contention, after all, it was Gavi who used to line up as the false-winger in that setup.
So, Xavi has a dilemma on his hands whether to field three central midfielders and a natural winger like Ferran Torres or Ansu Fati in attack, along with Robert Lewandowski and Ousmane Dembele, or he decides to persist with four central midfielders.
There is also the option of going with both Jordi Alba and Alejandro Balde on the left flank, with one assuming a defensive role and the other being given the freedom to attack.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the Barcelona lineup takes shape at Old Trafford. But for now, Busquets seems set to return to the starting XI after missing the first leg due to injury.
