The average age of Barcelona's starting XI in their loss to Real Madrid last week was nearly 29, but Andoni Zubizarreta does not believe it is an issue.

Luis Enrique's starting line-up for last week's El Clasico included five players in their 30s and an average age of 28.7, but Zubizarreta was keen to underline Barcelona brought in 22-year-old goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and 24-year-old full-back Douglas Pereira in the close-season.

"It's a temporary issue because if we had played the likes of Ter Stegen, [Marc] Bartra, Sergi Roberto and Rafinha then the average age would have come down noticeably," Zubizarreta told El Pais.

"We have players in different age groups and we are not just leaving the team to grow old, although admittedly the players we signed in the summer were experienced ones, with the exceptions of Ter Stegen and Douglas.

"But we are building a team for a season, not just one match."