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Three first-team stars have traveled with the Barcelona squad for the Spanish Super Cup semifinal in Riyadh, despite not receiving clearance to feature. La Blaugrana are set to face Osasuna at the home of Al-Nassr for a place in the final of the Spanish Super Cup.
Barcelona star Pedri has been on the sidelines for a while and was joined in the last week by Joao Cancelo and Inigo Martinez. All three players are listed as unavailable for the fixture by the club, but have made the trip to the Middle East.
Pedri is recovering from a second muscle injury picked up this season for La Blaugrana and is expected to be out for a while still. Martinez was injured for weeks and made his return in the Copa del Rey match against UD Barbastro, where he picked up another injury.
Cancelo suffered a knee injury against Las Palmas, which is set to keep him out of the Super Cup match. The injury has been described by manager Xavi as not serious, but the Manchester City loanee is not expected to play against Osasuna.
Barcelona took all three players on the trip in the hope that one or more of them will recover sufficiently enough to feature. La Blaugrana are in the hunt for a first piece of silverware this season, and will be keen to progress.
They will play in the second semifinal on January 11, after Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid do battle in the other semifinal. The winners will face each other in the final of the tournament on Sunday, January 14.
Unconvincing Barcelona set for shot at glory
La Liga champions Barcelona have not gotten off the the best start to their season that they would have hoped for. Large parts of the first half of the season have been affected by the numerous injuries that have plagued the team.
Presently, the trio of Gavi, Marcos Alonso, and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen remain in Spain as they are long-term absentees. They are the only first-team players to have not traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Super Cup.
Barcelona scraped through their Copa del Rey tie against UD Barbastro with a 3-2 win. This came on the back of another unconvincing 2-1 win against Las Palmas last week in La Liga, and is a source of worry for the fans. Xavi will hope that his side finds the levels required to defeat their rivals and claim glory in the Super Cup this week.
