Turkish National Team coach Fatih Terim spoke with the media on Tuesday and stated that his team has a number of injuries ahead of this weekend's match. He won't get much sympathy from his counterpart on the Spain sideline, however. Spanish coach Vicente Del Bosque told reporters Tuesday that his side will also be without several key players this weekend.

According to Del Bosque, Barcelona stars Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez will both likely miss this weekend's World Cup qualifier with Türkiye. Both were injured in La Liga play against Malaga recently. Iniesta is also expected to miss next weekend's match against the Turks as well with a torn muscle in his right leg. Del Bosque has gone with Juan Manuel Mata as his replacement in the squad.

Hernandez is currently in the Spanish team's camp, but he is undergoing medical test and evaluations to see if he'll be fit to play in either match against the Turks. Additionally, Barcelona defender Carles Puyol is out for this weekend's match due to injury. David Silva, Gerard Pique, and David Villa are all dealing with minor injuries of their own as well. However, all three are expected to see playing time Saturday against Türkiye.

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Captain Alex de Souza's injury has left Spanish coach Luis Aragones pondering about his starting eleven for this week's Bursaspor match. Papers have begun listing the Fener boss' alternatives. It looks as if Luis Aragones may even start with two forwards, Dani Güiza & Semih Şentürk.

Fenerbahçe's no. 10 Alexsandro de Souza is undoubtedly an indispensable player for the Yellow Canaries squad as he has scored more than a hundred of goals for the club. But the Brazilian playmaker's injury against Kocaelispor last weekend will definitely leave him out for this weekend's match and possibly make him miss the following week's action too.

Alex's injury thus forces Luis Aragones to change his tactical formation. The sports press in Turkey have begun elaborating different alternatives for the Spanish coach. There's almost a unanimous decision concerning the strikeforce in the starting eleven.

It was constantly written that it's almost impossible to field two strikers in front of an Alex de Souza playing in the AMC (attacking midfielder - centre) position. However, without Alex in the squad Hürriyet, Vatan and Lig TV have wrote that Luis Aragones is very likely to field both Dani Güiza & Semih Şentürk in his starting eleven against Bursaspor.

On the other hand, Hürriyet also writes that if Deivid de Souza recovers in time for Friday evening's fixture, then he's the one most likely to replace the Fenerbahçe captain, and thus not Dani Güiza. Vatan in the meantime predicts that the Spanish coach will most definitely field Gökhan Emreciksin on the right flank, instead of Colin Kazım-Richards who he fielded last weekend.

According to Hürriyet and Vatan, both Emre Belözoğlu and Deniz Barış's places are almost certain in the starting eleven, forcing newly recovered Selçuk Şahin to sit on the bench. Meanwhile, Lig TV also puts forth the option of fielding Emre Belözoğlu in Alex de Souza's position.

No one knows for sure who Luis Aragones will field on Friday night, not even Aragones himself. But one thing's for sure, the Spanish coach has got a lot of thinking to do as the Bursaspor fixture approaches.

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