Samper ready to bench Busquets and Co in midfield

Thegoalmac can reveal that Luis Enrique believes midfielder Sergi Samper is ready to challenge for a Barcelona first-team spot - and has called on his fellow young team-mates to show they also deserve a chance.

The 19-year-old started alongside Ivan Rakitic and Andres Iniesta and produced an accomplished performance in the 4-0 Copa del Rey win over Huesca.

Luis Enrique also gave opportunities to fellow youngsters Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Marc Bartra, Rafinha, Munir El Haddadi, Sergi Roberto and Edgar Le in the comfortable victory on Wednesday, and he has challenged them to show they deserve the chance to feature regularly in his plans this season.

"I really like Samper, even though he has Sergio Busquets and Javier Mascherano ahead of him," he told reporters.

"He can have minutes in the first team in any game, he had his debut in the Champions League. He is a reserve player who can be in the first team at any moment.

"Douglas needs games, he needs minutes to adapt. Whether he'll have them or not we'll see in the coming months of competition. We awarded Edgar a first-team chance because of his qualities. I invite the rest to show they are worthy of playing in the first team."

Rakitic opened the scoring with a stunning free kick on the night and Luis Enrique admitted he is blessed with a number of players who are deadly from set pieces.

"Lionel Messi, Ivan Rakitic, Xavi - they can all take free kicks," he added. "They speak between themselves. There is always a player that can score, I give them all my confidence."