Barcelona Without Four Key Players for Galatasaray Trip

Barcelona have travelled to Turkey ahead of their Champions League meeting with Galatasaray in the second round of the league phase.

Head coach Hansi Flick has named a 22-man squad for the highly anticipated clash at RAMS Park, but four key players are missing. Raphinha, Frenkie de Jong, Andreas Christensen and Roony Bardghji have all been ruled out through injury.

There is some positive news for the Catalan side, however, as defender Eric Garcia returns after serving a suspension carried over from last season following his red card against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The recovery of Barcelona's injured players is progressing according to plan. De Jong, who has been sidelined for almost three and a half months, could return to the squad as early as Saturday's La Liga fixture against Sevilla. Raphinha is expected to be fit for Barcelona's next major European away match against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.

The Barcelona delegation travelled to Istanbul on a charter flight, accompanied by club president Joan Laporta and members of the board. The team is staying at the Raffles Istanbul hotel, with Flick and young defender Pau Cubarsi scheduled to attend a press conference before the official training session.

Barcelona began their Champions League campaign with a convincing 5-1 victory over Feyenoord and will be aiming to make it two wins from two against Galatasaray.

For the match in Istanbul, the Catalan club will wear a special black away kit with purple details from Nike's collection dedicated to basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Barcelona previously wore the kit in their emphatic 5-0 victory over Elche.