Barcelona have released their preliminary squad for this season’s Champions League, where they’ll take on Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan and Slavia Prague in the group stages.
Alongside the well-known names in the club’s first-team – which includes the likes of Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong – three players from the Catalans B team have also been included in Ernesto Valverde’s 25-man European squad. Those players are: Hiroki Abe, Ronaldo Araujo and Ferran Sarsanedas
Abe will wear the No. 37 shirt, Araujo the No. 33 and Sarsanedas will take the No. 34 if they do actually feature in the tournament for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
The trio have been included as they are not eligible for selection for the B list. Abe and Araujo haven’t played for Barcelona long enough, while 22-year-old Sarsanedas is too old.
The B list contains players who have been at the club for at last three seasons and are under 21. It can be submitted to UEFA the day before a Champions League fixture.
Here’s how some fans reacted to the the club’s news on Twitter. Clearly, some still aren’t over last season’s semi-final collapse…
