Frenkie de Jong back in the squad for the trip to Rayo Vallecano

The league is back and Barça have a tough away trip to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday with an early kick off time to boot of 2pm CET. 

The blaugranes need a win to keep pace with the leaders at the top of La Liga and the good news for coach Xavi Hernández is that Frenkie de Jong is back in the squad for the first time since the end of September after his recovery from an ankle injury. 

The Barça squad for the game is in the Estadio de Vallecas is the following: João Cancelo, Balde, R. Araujo, I. Martínez, Ferran, Pedri, Lewandowski, Raphinha, Iñaki Peña, João Félix, Christensen, Marcos A., Romeu, F. De Jong, Gündoğan, Kounde, Astralaga, Lamine Yamal, Fermín, Aleix Garrido, Unai and Aron.

Ter Stegen is ruled out due to lower back pain with Sergi Roberto and Gavi also out due to injury. 

Final session before trip to Madrid

On Friday the squad carried out a final session at the Ciutat Esportiva before the trip to Vallecas. All the available first team players took part to finalise preparations for the clash with Rayo Vallecano.