Barcelona's preparations for the forthcoming season are gradually taking shape as they will face Napoli in the preseason friendly at Geneva tonight.
The match against Napoli will be a good way for Luis Enrique to test his squad as the previous two preseason encounters were not that telling. The Catalans will be looking to keep their disappointing draw against Nice at bay and come out flying at the Stade de Genève.
In their first real test this summer, Barca are expected to field a strong squad against the Italians, although players such Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano and Dani Alves are not in Enrique's 22-member squad that travelled to Switzerland, while Neymar is still injured.
Barca's star players have just returned from their World Cup breaks and are training in Catalunya at the club's base.
Napoli are expected to provide a stern test to the La Liga club as they finished third in the Italian league last season. Barca midfielder Andres Iniesta said he is looking forward to facing the Serie A outfit.
"We are now working very hard towards the new season and the match against Napoli in Geneva is very important for us," said the Spain midfielder. "We look forward to playing against this great team."
Defender Gerrard Pique, who had a disappointing campaign with the national team at the World Cup, is expecting a tough encounter against Napoli.
"This is an important match for us," Pique declared. "Napoli is a great team and we respect them a lot. It's going to be a very tough, competitive match. I look forward to discovering the Stade de Geneve and the Swiss fans. I hope that there'll be plenty of fans supporting Barca."
Meanwhile, Gonzalo Higuain has been included in the Italian side but Napoli coach Rafael Benitez revealed that it is not certain whether the Argentine will play in the friendly. The squad did double training a day before the clash and Benitez insisted that team is in positive shape.
"I daresay we are training hard giving our best," Benitez said. "We need to understand the shape of form of the players who came back recently from the World Cup however I saw positive signs."
"We are willing to overcome the first round and we are working hard especially with those players committed in the summer training camp," he added. "It's far too early to say who is going to play but I'm confident and I believe that the team will be ready to play against whatever team."
Squads: Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Claudio Bravo, Jordi Masip, Montoya, Jordi Alba, Marc Bartra, Pique, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Sergi Roberto, Ivan Rakitic, Rafinha Alcantara, Deulofeu, Pedro, Edgar Ie, Grimaldo, Samper, Halilovic, Adama, Munir, Bagnack and Sandro.
Napoli: Rafael, Andujar, Colombo, Maggio, Mesto, Zuniga, Ghoulam, Koulibaly, Albiol, Britos, Luperto, Inler, Gargano, Jorginho, Dzemaili, Hamsik, Insigne, Mertens, Callejon, Vargas, Michu, Higuain and Duvan.
Where to Watch:
The preseason friendly between Barcelona and Napoli is scheduled for a 6:00 pm GMT (11:30 pm IST, 2:00 pm ET and 7:00 pm BST) start. The match will be telecast by beIN Sports in the United States with live streaming option HERE. Antena 3 will telecast the action live in Spain with online streaming option HERE. In Italy, the match will be available live on Premium Calcio 3.
The match will be available live in SuperSport in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa with live streaming option HERE. You can also listen to the action live on Barca Radio HERE and the match will also be streamed live HERE.
