Busy Barça to give youngsters a chance

With the international break now over, the matches are set to come thick and fast. Barcelona faces seven games - five in the league and two in the Champions League - in just 22 days.
This fixture pile-up means there will be run-outs aplenty for those players who have been on the fringes so far. The likes of Tello, Montoya, Bartra, Dos Santos, Sergi Roberto and Oier have barely featured so far and the Argentine is keen to appease any murmurs of unrest by bringing them back into the fold.
This process has already started. Tello, Dos Santos and Sergi Roberto were all introduced from the bench in the latter stages in Valencia and the youngsters should get more minutes over the coming weeks. Martino will have to tread carefully, however, to avoid upsetting the apple cart amongst the regulars. What is already a big squad will soon be swelled by the imminent return of Carles Puyol.
Barça's busy fixture list could prove a blessing for the younger squad members. With fatigue beginning to creep into the first team, the kids could be thrown into the fray against some of the weaker opposition. For starters, Martino will weigh up the condition in which the more established players return from international duty. Some will certainly be given the weekend off ahead of next week's Champions League meeting with Ajax, against whom the coach plans to field a full-strength line-up.