FC Barcelona will take on Arsenal in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday evening without some key players. “The Gunners“ are facing a major injury crisis as they will have to fight for the semi-final spot without long-term injuries Robin van Persie, Aaron Ramsey, Johan Djourou, Kieran Gibbs, William Gallas, Andrey Arshavin, Cesc Fabregas, and recently sidelined Alex Song, who suffered an inflamed knee cartilage according to arsenalyouth.com

Their 60-year-old French coach, Arsene Wenge,r believes that Song’s absence is a major blow and he described it as “a bad surprise.” With key personnel out for the highly-anticipated encounter, some “new faces” were included in the squad. One of them is a former Barcelona youth player Fran Merida (20), who left Barcelona for London back in 2005.  Wenger decided to go along with Merida after young starlet Carlos Vela failed to fulfill the expectations of the club and supporters, as his current form is disappointing.

Fran Merida was born on 4 March 1990 in Barcelona, Spain. During his time in Barcelona footballing academy La Masia, he was regarded as one of its most promising youth players. After some time, Fran Merida’s parents became uneasy with the number of young players joining Barcelona and felt that the youngster would have a better chance elsewhere. And so the talented midfielder ended up in London, leaving Barcelona without any financial compensation, as he had yet to sign a contract with the Catalan club. Now Merida returns to the Camp Nou as an opponent, trying to push Arsenal through to the semis.