Europa League: Barcelona without 6 First Team Players Ahead of Crunch Quarter Final vs Eintracht Frankfurt

• Barcelona are considered huge favourites to win the Europa League after their resurgence under Xavi
• The Catalan giants take on Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-final first leg at Deutsche Bank
• Barca will be without Memphis Depay, who recently sustained a hamstring injury

The Europa League quarter-final is upon us with some interesting fixtures to look forward to on Thursday, April 7.

One of the most promising clashes of the night will probably be when Barcelona take on Eintracht Frankfurt at Deutsche Bank.

The Catalan giants, under new manager Xavi, seem to have found their spark, both domestically and in Europe, and one could easily put up a strong case on why they are favourites to clinch the Europa League.

But Eintracht Frankfurt are anything but a pushover as they topped Group D by winning all their six games.

The German club also has experience in eliminating Spanish opponents as they got the better of Real Betis 3-2 on aggregate in the round of 16.

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Barcelona does not know how to lose at the moment, and their frightening form was summed up when they thrashed La Liga leaders Real Madrid 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Team News, Eintracht Frankfurt

Oliver Glasner has been boosted by the return of centre back Martin Hinteregger after missing the previous Bundesliga game through suspension.

Left-back, Christopher Lenzis is also back in contention after recovering from a calf injury.

Typically, Glasner is likely to go with a three at the back formation, to try to have an edge over Barcelona in midfield.

Eintracht Frankfurt predicted lineup:

(3-4-2-1): Trapp - Hinteregger, N'dicka, Tuta - Knauff, Sow, Rode (c), Jakic - Kostic, Kamada - Borre

Team news, Barcelona

Despite a potent squad, Xavi has a number of problems ahead of the game, Xavi has a number of injury concerns, with up to six first-team players.

Memphis Depay recently sustained a hamstring injury, and joined the likes of Sergino Dest (hamstring) and Samuel Umtiti (toe) on the sidelines.

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Luuk de Jong is also out with illness, while Dani Alves is not eligible to play in the Europa League.

Young talent Ansu Fati was completely overlooked for the squad as he continues to recover from injury, leaving Barcelona with only three wide attackers - Ferran Torres, Adama Traore and Ousmane Dembele.

Another talent that will be heavily relied on will be Pedri, but the youngster, who bagged the winner against Sevilla, is likely to be started on the bench considering the number of minutes he has racked for Barcelona.

Barcelona's predicted lineup:

(4-3-3): ter Stegen - Araujo, Pique, Garcia, Alba - de Jong, Busquets (c), Pedri - Dembele, Aubameyang, Torres

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Elsewhere, it was recently revealed that Real Madrid hero Karim Benzema had just broken his fast moments before a superb performance against Chelsea.

The 34-year-old Muslim is also participating in the ongoing Ramadan as part of his faith and despite not eating and drinking all day, he navigated the entire Chelsea defence with ease.

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