How Barcelona could line up against Rayo Vallecano

La Liga leaders Barcelona will be without four players for their trip to Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday night.

Captain Sergio Busquets will serve a one-match suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in last weekend's 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.

The Catalan giants will also have to cope without Ousmane Dembele, Sergi Roberto (both hamstring) and Andreas Christensen (calf) as they continue to recover from injury.

Pedri and Frenkie de Jong both recovered from hamstring problems to feature in the win over Atletico, with the latter starting and playing for 78 minutes. Both midfielders will be in contention to start on Wednesday along with Gavi, while Franck Kessie could replace the suspended Busquets in the deep-lying role.

After keeping a clean sheet in each of their last three games, Barca boss Xavi could be tempted to name the same back four of Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Marcos Alonso and Alejandro Balde, although both Eric Garcia and Jordi Alba will be hoping to force their way back into the first XI.

Ferran Torres, who scored the only goal of the game in the win against Atletico, could retain his place on the left flank ahead of Ansu Fati, while Raphinha is expected to continue on the opposite wing.

Xavi recently insisted that he has no concerns with Robert Lewandowski's recent struggles in front of goal; the Poland international has scored just twice in his last eight games in all competitions but is expected to lead the line again on Wednesday.

Barcelona possible starting lineup: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Alonso, Balde; Gavi, Kessie, De Jong; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Torres