Ansu Fati will feature for Barcelona against Real Mallorca for the first time in three months after sustaining a hamstring injury, Blaugrana coach Xavi confirmed.
Barca have lost their last three home games in all competitions for just the second time in history, last doing so under Louis van Gaal between the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons.
Defeat against Rayo Vallecano, who became the first promoted team to complete a LaLiga double over Barca since Salamanca in 1997-98, left Xavi's side in third – 15 points behind leaders Real Madrid.
While Madrid need just a point against Espanyol on Saturday to secure the title, Barca will be boosted by the return of Fati against Mallorca on Sunday.
The 19-year-old has suffered an injury-hit campaign, last featuring in January – and not at all in LaLiga since November – managing just five league appearances this season for his 213 minutes of action.
"We will give the squad list and Ansu will be there," Xavi told reporters at a pre-match news conference.
"He feels very comfortable and is making efforts to return. He will play at least a few minutes. He is happy, he is smiling, a special player.
"We take great care of him, we know he is a special player. For now the feelings are very good, peaks of speed, physically very good."
Fati will return to a Barca side that has scored with only one of the last 46 shots they have attempted in LaLiga, and with one of their last 57 at Camp Nou in the competition.
However, Xavi insists his side need to collectively respond instead of relying on the teenager to make things happen when he features.
"The focus has to be on the team. I understand football as a collective game. If it's only one player, when he fails the team doesn't shoot," he added.
"Everyone has to shoot. Ansu is a different player, he has to be very important from now on.
"But there is no specific focus on him or anyone, I have never understood it that way."
Barca will be without midfielder Pedri as the talented youngster continues to recover from a hamstring injury sustained against Eintracht Frankfurt earlier in April.
The Blaugrana have won eight of 10 LaLiga games that Pedri has started, in comparison to just 10 victories in 23 league games without the Spain international in the starting line-up this season.
Xavi provided a positive update on Pedri as he suggested he may be without centre-back Gerard Pique against Mallorca.
"Pedri is training separately and has a good feeling," he added. "Pique has a tendon problem. We'll see tomorrow, today he was more sore.
"Nico [Gonzalez] broke his finger in a collision with Ansu. A shame because we don't have plenty of midfielders, but that's football."
One midfielder that could leave his mark, though, is the out of favour Frenkie de Jong, who was seemingly unhappy after his substitution in Barca's last game.
"We had a very good face-to-face talk," Xavi said of De Jong.
"It's obvious that this change frustrated him, but I have to look out for the team. He's had excellent games, but he has to be constant.
"He's capable and is here to make a difference. He's a very important player for the present and for the future".
Jarrod Bowen nets late winner as West Ham win Europa Conference League
Jarrod Bowen’s last-minute winner saw West Ham end their 43-year wait for a trophy with a dramatic 2-1 victory over Fiorentina in the Europa Conference League final.
The Hammers won a first piece of silverware since 1980’s FA Cup, and a first European trophy since 1965, on a historic and emotional night in Prague.
Yes, it may be only Europe’s third-tier competition, the one treated as an unwanted distraction by Tottenham, among others, in its inaugural form last season.
But this is West Ham. The West Ham who routinely see relegation as an occupational hazard. The West Ham who made a song and dance of leaving their old stadium and an almighty hash of moving into the new one. The West Ham who had to go begging to their former manager to save them from the drop, 18 months after they got rid of him when he had done just that.
Just nine weeks ago that same manager watched as the away fans unfurled a ‘Moyes Out’ banner during a scratchy 1-0 win over Fulham, which likely saved his job.
Now David Moyes has written his name in West Ham folklore, joining Ron Greenwood and John Lyall as trophy-winning Hammers managers. A place in next season’s Europa League means the club has qualified for Europe three seasons in a row, for the first time.
And what a way to sign off for Declan Rice, destined to leave this summer but with the legacy of becoming only the third captain, along with Bobby Moore and Billy Bonds, to lift silverware in the club’s 128-year history.
The Hammers have given their fans, 5,000 of whom were – officially at least – in attendance and the 20,000-or so who just wanted to be in Prague for their first European final in 47 years, the ride of their lives.
Fiorentina’s Cristiano Biraghi struck by object thrown from West Ham fans
The Europa Conference League final was stopped briefly after West Ham fans threw objects towards Fiorentina’s players.
Plastic pint glasses were hurled from the West Ham end throughout the first half at the Eden Arena in Prague.
Referee Carlos Del Cerro Grande eventually halted play after Fiorentina captain Cristiano Biraghi was hit by another missile as he went to take a corner shortly before half-time.
Biraghi had suffered a cut to the back of his head and required treatment and a bandage.
A message over the PA system urged supporters to stop throwing objects on to the pitch and to respect the players, before play eventually resumed with the score still 0-0.
I am going to Miami – Lionel Messi heading for MLS after Paris St Germain exit
Lionel Messi has announced he is to join Major League Soccer side Inter Miami.
The 35-year-old Argentina forward had been strongly linked with a move to Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal, to join a league which already features Cristiano Ronaldo and now Karim Benzema.
However, with Messi’s two-year contract at Paris St Germain coming to an end this month, the World Cup winner confirmed in a joint interview with Spanish publications Mundo Deportivo and Sport he was set to head to the United States.
“I made the decision that I am going to go to Miami,” Messi said.
“I still haven’t closed it one hundred per cent. I’m missing some things, but we decided to continue on the path.”
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