FC Barcelona U19A v Viktoria Plsen: UEFA Youth League returns

The UEFA Youth League returns after 273 days and to a privileged location for the FC Barcelona U19A side: Estadi Johan Cruyff - their home ground for European matches. It seems a long time since Barça lost a tight game 3-2 in Munich against Bayern on December 8 to bow out of last season's European competition.

Wednesday will see the U19As start the group phase of Europe's premier youth competition against Viktoria Plsen (2pm CEST, Movistar * Liga de Campeones and UEFA TV). With last season in mind and many youth players making their debut in the competition, this season's U19A squad approach the Youth League with a lot of desire, ambition, and excitement.

Free ticket for members and fans

Every member and fan who would like to watch the game at the Estadi Johan Cruyff can obtain a free ticket from the stadium's ticket offices.

Òscar López' thoughts

"Some players have a year of experience in this competition and that should be evident on the pitch". Those were the thoughts of coach Òscar López for Barça TV prior to the game. In this respect, he assured that "this competition is the most similar to any elite level competition and I am sure we have learned from last season's experience". 

The squad

As such, the U19A squad to play the Youth League contains many of the players from last season, with players like Marc Casadó, Chadi Riad and Txus Alba from Barça Atlétic really boosting the squad's quality. Furthermore, Ilias Akhomach and Àlex Valle from the youth side, but playing for Rafa Márquez' team, will also be available to coach Òscar López. There are also the new summer signings in Rubén Cantero, Unai and Derek, who add to the players that have been promoted from the U19Bs and U16As. Let's not forget that Lamine Yamal is part of the U19A squad, despite being a second year U16 player.

Coach Óscar López' squad of 20 players is as follows: Astralaga, Héctor Fort, Cantero, Chadi Riad, Arnau Casas, Alex Valle, Biel Vicens, Marc Casadó, Aleix Garrido, Txus Alba, Unai, Ilias Akhomach, Ángel Alarcón, Lamine Yamal, Derek, Víctor Barberá, Luzzi, Xavi Moreno, Antonio Gómez and Diego Kochen.

The coaching team left out Diego Almeida, Toni Caravaca, Gerard González, Gerard Hernández, Dani Rodríguez, Niko Takahashi, Juan Anaya and Martin Georgiev, while Sergio Domínguez, Alejandro Ramos and Jan Molina are recovering from injuries.

Despite not getting out of last season's Youth League group stage, this team did win the División de Honor and the Copa de Campeones, achieving a historic double.

The competition, the stage, and opponent are all set for us to enjoy the show once more, that's a given.