MADRID, May 3 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona will make sweeping changes to their starting 11 when they travel to face Celta Vigo in the Liga Santander on Saturday evening.
Barca travel to the north-west of Spain as league champions after assuring the title with a 1-0 win at home to Levante last weekend and with one foot in the Champions League final after beating Liverpool 3-0 in the Camp Nou on Wednesday night.
That result makes Barca clear favorites to qualify for this year's final, but with memories of how his side saw a 4-1 first leg advantage overturned by Roma in last season's quarterfinals, coach Ernesto Valverde is certain to rest several key players for a match where Barca have nothing to play for.
That will probably see players such as Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, Arturo Vidal and Leo Messi all rested to prepare for Tuesday's return leg at Anfield.
Messi scored the winning goal against Levante after coming on as a substitute last week and was magnificent against Liverpool, but there is a chance that he and others might not even step on the plane.
The prospect of Barca fielding a weakened side, especially one without Messi is great news for Celta, who despite a recent upturn in form are still just two points above the relegation zone.
The local paper in Vigo (El Faro de Vigo) carries the headline on Friday "The enormous relief of not seeing Messi play," in which a series of Celta fans say how happy they are he probably won't play against them.
Without Messi in the side the attention will turn to Celta striker and captain, Iago Aspas. Aspas misses most of 2019 after suffering an injury away to Barcelona before Christmas and his injury coincided with Celta's slump down the table.
Since returning the Spain international has scored six goals in six matches and Celta are unbeaten when he has been in the side. It's not just goals that make Aspas so important, the locally born striker makes Celta faster, sharper and more dynamic when he plays.
If Aspas, with the support of Braise Mendez and Maxi Gomez are at their best on Saturday this could indeed be the best possible moment to face Barc. But with Barca's competitive DNA, Celta shouldn't take anything for granted.
