Barcelona squad size a concern, says Terry Gibson

Barcelona's small squad could be a cause for concern for Luis Enrique in the run-in, believes Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Terry Gibson.

Luis Enrique's side suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of rivals Real Madrid on Saturday which saw their lead over Atletico Madrid - whom they face in a Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday - at the top of La Liga cut to just six points.

Real are a further point behind their city rivals Atletico with seven games remaining and Gibson, speaking on the La Liga Weekly podcast, thinks the amount of football Barca's first-team regulars are playing could be a problem heading into the crunch stage of the season.

"My biggest concern would be the small squad," Gibson said.

"The starting line-up is known as the 'Gala XI' now; the 10 outfield players are permanent and they only made one sub at the weekend with Arda Turan coming on.

"Zinedine Zidane changed Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale and freshened it up with youthful quick players that added to the momentum at the end.

"Barca's players are playing significant amounts of football, they are all internationals and have all played most games this season.

"Enrique has tried to be conservative with players like Andres Iniesta but Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets play nearly every game. I would imagine Barca need to concern themselves with it at some point because they obviously don't trust the bench enough to go to it in the bigger games."

Gibson also thinks the age of Barcelona's current side is a worry for the future with Neymar, at 24, the youngest of the 11 players that started El Clasico last Saturday.

"I noticed when I was writing the list of players out that Neymar was the youngest at 24," he said. "I think it should be cause for concern.

"You could argue that most of them are at their peak and it's not a crisis, but it's one point from the last six in the league.

"They were ahead in both games and have opened the door a little for Atletico and Real, even though Barca have the advantage in the head-to-head records as well, so that's another point."

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