Barcelona leave Hamza Abdelkarim out of squad to face Real Betis

Hansi Flick has decided to leave Egypt international Hamza Abdelkarim out of Barcelona’s squad for Saturday’s La Liga meeting with Real Betis.

Barcelona will play Real Betis at La Cartuja on Saturday in the ninth round of the Spanish top flight.

According to Sport, Abdelkarim did not take part in Barcelona’s first-team training session on Friday evening, the final session before the match.

The Egypt international instead trained with the reserve side on Friday morning as they prepared to face Oteibo on Saturday.

Barcelona want the striker to play for Barcelona Atletic against Oteibo so he can gain further match minutes.

Abdelkarim’s omission also follows the returns of Brazil international Raphinha and Netherlands midfielder Frenkie de Jong. Their availability left Flick needing to remove one player from his plans, with Abdelkarim the player affected.

Barcelona had not officially published their squad for the match against Real Betis at the time of the report.

Abdelkarim has made two La Liga appearances for Barcelona this season, playing only limited minutes in both matches.

Barcelona lead the La Liga table with 24 points from eight consecutive victories, giving them a perfect record so far. Real Betis are third on 19 points, level with second-placed Atletico de Madrid but behind them on goal difference.