Will Ernesto Valverde dare rest Lionel Messi and other Barcelona key questions ahead of Espanyol trip

All change for Barcelona?

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has confirmed he plans to make several changes to his team for this weekend’s local derby to avoid overloading his players during a frantic run of games.

The success of Valverde’s team in advancing to the Copa del Rey semi-finals means they have played twice a week every week since returning from the Christmas break, and are now heading into their tenth game in the last 32 days.

There could be a debut in the centre of defence for recent signing Yerry Mina, while Nelson Semedo, Lucas Digne, Paulinho, Philippe Coutinho, Denis Suarez and Paco Alcacer will also hope for the opportunity to start – but midfielder Andre Gomes is still ruled out after illness.

Ideally, Lionel Messi should be one of the players rested because the last thing Valverde needs is his talisman suffering an injury or the onset of fatigue, but Messi is famously insistent upon playing as much as possible and would not take kindly to being left on the bench. A big call, then, for Valverde.

Pique in the line of fire?

If Valverde wishes to be diplomatic, one player he will leave out of his starting line-up on Sunday is central defender Gerard Pique, who endures what can only be described as a ‘hate-hate’ relationship with fans of cross-town rivals Espanyol.

Pique has regularly been forced to endure vitriolic obscene chants about his partner Shakira during previous trips to the Cornella-El Prat, and he stretched tensions even further by mocking Espanyol’s humble origins at a recent press conference to mark his signing of a new contract.

There’s nothing like the sight of Pique to whip Espanyol fans into a frenzy of fury, so leaving him out of the firing line could well be a sensible decision to help diffuse the atmosphere both on and off the pitch.

That increases the chances of a debut for Mina, although Valverde has repeatedly stressed the need for the Colombian international to be given a period of adaptation following his recent capture from Palmeiras.

Messi, Suarez….can anyone else score?

Barca are blessed to boast La Liga’s top two scorers, Messi (20 goals) and Suarez (16), who have scored more between them than the entire Atletico Madrid team (32).

Messi and Suarez are perhaps the most reliable goal-scoring duo in world football, but Valverde would like to see other players step up to the mark as well – something that has not been happening in recent weeks.

The team’s last nine goals in all competitions have been scored by – in reverse chronological order – Suarez, Messi, Suarez, Messi, Suarez, Suarez, Messi, Suarez and Messi, with nobody else getting on target since Ivan Rakitic netted the opener in the 5-0 rout of Real Betis.

Paulinho, Rakitic and Alcacer are the kind of players who should be contributing regularly as well, and Brazilian midfielder Paulinho, in his defence, has already chipped in with eight league goals. But the recent over-reliance on Suarez and Messi, as brilliant as they are, is something Valverde would like to end as soon as possible.