Barcelona to rest Iniesta and Pique versus Leverkusen

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique has decided to rest Gerard Pique and Andres Iniesta for Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Bayer Leverkusen.

The reigning champions have already clinched top spot in Group E with one game to spare, allowing Luis Enrique to juggle his options with a tough test against high-flying Deportivo La Coruna to come in the league this weekend before they jet out to Japan to contest the Club World Cup.

The Barcelona coach will also have to make do without the services of Dani Alves at the BayArena due to suspension, with the Brazilian picking up his third yellow card in the 6-1 win over Roma last time out.

Furthermore, Jeremy Mathieu, Sergi Roberto, Douglas and Rafinha all remain unavailable due to injury.

Youngsters Sergi Samper, Juan Camara, Gerard Gumbau and Wilfrid Kaptoum have made the cut for Wednesday’s encounter.

Barcelona recorded a 2-1 win over Leverkusen at Camp Nou earlier this season, with Sergi Roberto and Luis Suarez cancelling out Kyriakos Papadopoulos’ opener.