Barcelona's Iniesta out of Catalan derby due to injury

Andres Iniesta will miss Barcelona's derby at Espanyol on Saturday due to an abductor injury, the club have confirmed.

Iniesta was a doubt for the Liga match after missing training on Friday and he has not been able to prove his fitness in time to make Luis Enrique's squad.

Rafinha, Aleix Vidal and Jeremy Mathieu are the other injury absentees for Barca, who have included 19-year-old Carles Alena in their matchday 18 and welcome back Neymar after the Brazilian served a three-match ban.

Iniesta has started just 10 Liga games in a stop-start season for the 32-year-old, with Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes the contenders to take his place in the Barcelona midfield.

Barcelona lead the Liga table via their superior head-to-head record against Real Madrid, who have the chance to go top when they host Valencia on Saturday.