PREVIEW: A-League All Stars v FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona are all set to play the last game of the 2021/22 season and their first ever in Australia, adding a brand new name to the list of countries that the team has visited over the years.

The venue is the Accor Stadium, which holds 80,000 spectators and was originally built to host the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and the opposition is the A-League All Stars, the best of the best from the Australian football league.

It all starts at 8.05pm local time, which will be 12.05pm back in Barcelona, and this guide will help you find out what time that is where you are in the world. Getting to see the game won’t be a problem, we have live coverage worldwide on Barça TV+. 

After the league season ended in disappointment as Barça lost 2-0 at home to Villarreal at the Camp Nou, Xavi and his side will be keener than ever to end the season with a win. The players went straight to the airport after the final whistle below on that game and they were in the air for a whole day as they made their way down under.

Barça team news

Xavi Hernández, who won the silver medal in this very city after Spain lost the Olympic final to Samuel Eto’o and Cameroon, has taken twenty players with him to New South Wales.

Ferran Torres cannot travel to Australia for personal reasons as he has not completed the required vaccination programme in time. Meanwhile, Riqui Puig and Òscar Mingueza are both in the Catalonia squad for a friendly against Jamaica in Girona.

Martin Braithwaite is also staying behind as he has been called up for international duty with Denmark, and Neto and Lenglet are not in the squad for family reasons.

Also absent from the travelling party are the injured Dest, Piqué, Nico, Pedri, Sergi Roberto and Eric Garcia.

Xavi says

"This is a historic event. It is the first time Barça have been here in Australia. It is a privilege and an honour. Sydney is a great city, and I have wonderful memories of being here when we won the silver medal at the Olympics.”

"Tomorrow we will try to play our very best and make sure it’s a game people will enjoy.”

The opposition

The A-League All Stars are being coached by former Trinidad & Tobago and Manchester United star, Dwight Yorke, who has been in charge of Sydney-based Macarthur FC since last July. Yorke was a member of the United team that won the Champions League at Camp Nou in 1999 following that unforgettable late comeback against Bayern Munich, and he also scored twice against Barça in the group stage of that same edition. 

The team is made up of 13 players picked by the fans, 15 chosen by Yorke himself, and two by the league commissioner. However, Melbourne City and Western United players will not be taking part in this one as they will feature in Saturday’s A-League Grand Final.

The complete list of players is as follows (Australian nationals unless stated otherwise):

Adelaide United
Craig Goodwin, Nestory Irankunda, Isaías

Brisbane Roar
Scott Neville, Jay O'Shea (Ireland)

Central Coast Mariners
Jason Cummings, Garang Kuol, Kye Rowles

Macarthur FC
Filip Kurto (Poland), Adrian Mariappa (Jamaica)

Melbourne Victory
Jake Brimmer, Jason Davidson, Roderick Miranda (Portugal)

Newcastle Jets
Beka Mikeltadze (Georgia), Daniel Penha (Brazil)

Perth Glory
Callum Timmins

Sydney FC
Anthony Caceres, Rhyan Grant, Miloš Ninković (Serbia), Andrew Redmayne

Wellington Phoenix
Reno Piscopo

Western Sydney Wanderers
Jack Rodwell (England), Adama Traoré (Ivory Coast)