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Unai Emery Must Wave Goodbye To New Aston Villa Superstar In Genius Move Vs Barcelona

Unai Emery has a huge selection dilemma on his hands going into Aston Villa's trip to Barcelona in the Champions League.

The Villans head to the Catalan region on Tuesday looking to continue their 100 per cent start in Europe's elite club competition this season, having beaten Club Brugge, Fenerbahce and Viking, scoring 12 goals in the process.

But Barca, who sit top of La Liga and have lost just twice all season, are expected to be Villa's biggest test in the league phase. They have scored a mammoth 57 goals across their 14 matches this term and thrashed Alaves 6-1 on Saturday.

To ensure Villa are given the best chance of getting a result at Camp Nou, Emery must make at least one change to the XI that started the 1-1 draw against Fulham.

Although he has impressed this season, Alysson should drop out of the side with Ibrahim Mbaye coming in. With that, John McGinn would move out to the right with Johan Manzambi as the central attacking midfielder and Mbaye on the left-hand side.

Behind Nicolas Jackson, those three started in Villa's 6-0 win against Fenerbahce last month, and it is Villa's most balanced front four. McGinn is more comfortable out on the right where he can cut in and drift inside to create a three-man midfield alongside Boubacar Kamara and Joao Gomes or Leon Goretzka, while Manzambi's best position is in the No.10.

Mbaye, meanwhile, is the ideal fit for the left wing role and should start there, though Alejandro Garnacho and George Hemmings are pushing for a starting berth. Mbaye, 18, has the potential to cause that fragile Barca back-line issues, with the La Liga side not keeping a single clean sheet in each of their last five matches, conceding nine times.

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McGinn, Gomes and Kamara would offer much-needed defensive protection to ensure Villa are compact without the ball, while Mbaye, Manzambi and Jackson have blistering pace and can cause Barca a problem on the counter-attack and in transition.

Alysson, Garnacho, Tammy Abraham, Brian Madjo and Emiliano Buendia would provide the attacking talent on the bench and can change the game in an instant. All five, should they be included in the squad, need to make an impact if Villa are to record a positive result.

At the back, Matty Cash, Victor Lindelof, Pau Torres, Ian Maatsen could continue as the four-man defensive unit with Zion Suzuki in goal, despite his mistake against Fulham.

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