Napoli vs Barca preview: Last rehearsal for Barca before La Liga gets underway

FC Barcelona bring an end to their preseason campaign when they take on Napoli for the second time in less than a week. Now that LaLiga and RFEF have been forced to reach a compromise over the fixture list, Barça know their league opener will begin on Friday 16th August at 21:00.

That final match sees them square up to Carlo Ancelotti's Napoli again in the LaLiga-Serie A Cup. In the first leg, Valverde's side emerged as 2-1 victors thanks to goals from Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic. Although the real hero of the evening was Neto who was forced into several smart stops to keep Barça in the lead.

With the LaLiga opener coming up, it makes sense that Valverde will name his gala XI against Napoli. With Rakitic and Busquets playing the full 90 minutes it seems unlikely that those two would feature again.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who didn't play on Wednesday, is expected to return to the lineup for the second leg. Semedo, Pique, Lenglet and Jordi Alba will be the back four.

Frenkie de Jong will start in the holding role and is expected to be flanked by Sergi Roberto and Arthur. This will be the Brazilian's preseason debut. Up top the trio is expected to be the first choice - in the absence of Messi - which means Dembele, Suarez and Griezmann. Coutinho and Vidal are also expected to get their first minutes of the summer.