Konrad de la Fuente in Barcelona’s Champions League squad

The United States youth international was named to Barcelona’s squad that will face Napoli in the return of the UEFA Champions League on 8 August.

The UEFA Champions League resumed on 7 August amid the coronavirus pandemic. After a break of 149 days the Europe premier football competition continues its path to the final that is due to be played at the Stadium of Light, Lisbon.

Today FC Barcelona announced the full squad that will be facing Napoli on 8 August and in that list appears the name of Konrad de la Fuente. The U.S. youth international is one of Barcelona’s B players that has been called up, because six first-team players are ruled out.

Sergio Busquets and Arturo Vidal are suspended, Dembele and Umtiti are recovering from their respective injuries, Martin Braithwaite is not eligible since he was signed by Barcelona after 31 January when the transfer market window closed, and Arthur reported he doesn’t want to play anymore since he was sold to Juventus.

The 19-year-old American footballer has been training with the first team for the past weeks now and has impressed current manager Quique Sentien, who has given youth players a lot of opportunities this season. De la Fuente scored a couple of goals in the third division playoffs which helped Barca B reach the final where they lost and failed to advance to the second division.

Barcelona and Napoli drew 1-1 in the first leg of the round of 16 in February and the game will be played at the Camp Nou. The last team to win their first away Champions League game at that stadium was Rubin Kazan in October 2009.

De la Fuente joined Barcelona in 2014

Konrad de la Fuente arrived at La Masia academy in 2014 and in late June he signed a contract extension with FC Barcelona. The 19-year-old signed two more seasons and his buy out clause will be 100 million euros if he makes the first team.