Brest travel to Catalonia, for Matchday Five in the Champions League, bang out of form in Ligue 1 but bang in form in when it comes to Europe’s premier club competition.
By Ian King
Non-History
There is no previous between these two teams. This is, to give them their full name, Stade Brestois 29’s first ever season of European football. They’ve never got past the quarter-final of the Coupe de France and their only league title came in Ligue 2 back in 1981. Barcelona, by comparison, have 27 Spanish league titles and five Champions League titles under their belt, though it is now a decade since they last won Europe’s most coveted trophy.
Contrasting fortunes of late
Brest go into this match in 12th place in Ligue 1 with four wins and seven defeats from their first twelve games, and they’ve lost their last three in a row in the league, too. But in the Champions League, they’ve shone. Three wins and a draw from their opening four matches have left them in fourth place in the sprawling 36-team ‘league’, actually two places on one point above Barcelona for now.
Barcelona had a bit of a nasty surprise at the weekend, when two goals in the last six minutes of their match away to Celta Vigo pegged them back to a 2-2 draw, although they do still lead LaLiga by four points. They’re in sixth place in the Champions League table, with three wins and a defeat from their opening four.
Key players
The main man for Barcelona so far this season has been Robert Lewandowski, with 15 goals in 14 in La Liga and 20 in 18 in all competitions. There were some raised eyebrows when the 36-year old went to Camp Nou in 2022, but his form this season has demonstrated that there’s life in the old dog yet.
There are few such celebrities in the Brest squad – their summer spending in preparation for the new season amounted to only just over €10m – though followers of the Premier League may be interested to know that there are two players in their squad currently on loan from clubs from England’s top division; Romain Faivre (Bournemouth) and Abdallah Sima (Brighton).
Team News
Barcelona have well documented injury problems. Ronald Araújo, Ansu Fati, Andreas Christensen, Marc-André ter Stegen and Marc Bernal are all unavailable, while Lamine Yamal, Eric García and Ferran Torres are also unlikely to play.
Such matters aren’t much better for Brest. Massadio Haïdara, Faivre and Soumaïla Coulibaly are all likely to miss out, while Bradley Locko is out for the long-term with Achilles tendon damage. And there was a fresh headache in their 3-2 loss at Monaco last weekend with an injury to Pierre Lees-Malou. The aforementioned Sima faces a fitness test.
Prediction
Barcelona’s injury situation isn’t great and there are questions to be asked over the sloppy way in which they turned a 2-0 lead into a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo last time out. But Brest have their injuries too and have had a moderate start to their league season. Their Champions League wins have come against reasonably modest opposition – Sturm Graz, Salzburg and Sparta Prague – and it’s difficult to see past a comfortable home win on this occasion. So Barcelona by three.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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