One of the competition favourites should take another step towards the last 16 this week with Barcelona aiming to make it three wins from four when they head to Belgian side Club Brugge on Wednesday.
By Karl Matchett
Cruising mode
One of the big talking points around this still-new Champions League format last term was that it allowed some of the bigger teams to essentially get the job done in half the matches: if they weren’t too fussed about final position and only top eight mattered to avoid the playoffs, then five wins was always expected to be about enough. Barcelona managed six and finished second, scoring 28 times along the way – more than anyone else in the league phase. While they’ve not been quite so free-scoring yet, they look well on track for at least that five-win initial benchmark and, with Slavia Prague and FC København still to come, if they win this one they are already all-but-there – despite that defeat to PSG.
Hansi Flick and his squad might want to win the competition, but you don’t do that in the first half of the season. As PSG showed last year, all you need to do at this stage is make sure you remain in the competition. As such, the manager might be tempted to tweak a little, but a strong lineup here goes a long way to ensuring you can rotate more frequently later on – as well as skip those two extra encounters.
Playing for the playoffs
Club Brugge might have looked a little stronger in previous seasons, but they can’t be discounted entirely at home. After all, they thumped Monaco 4-1 and that was after humiliating Rangers in the qualifiers 9-1 on aggregate. But even so, years of selling their stars might be taking a toll. Last season they finished 24th, nicking the final playoff spot with 11 points but a better goal difference than Dinamo Zagreb. It looks a stretch to achieve that again this term – unless they pull off a massive shock in a game like this.
Form
Brugge have won their last five domestically, but chopping up that streak are two defeats in Europe following their opening round win over Monaco. Three wins and three defeats in the last six for the visitors, but they won their only Champions League away game so far at Newcastle.
Team news
The hosts will be without a host of players to make things worse. Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is out, while so too are left-back Bjorn Meijer, holding midfielder Raphael Onyedika and the versatile Ludovit Reis.
Hans Vanaken has to pull the strings for counter-attacks, with Christos Tzolis Brugges’ best outlet to trouble the visitors.
Barcelona are missing even more players, particularly in attack with Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Dani Olmo all out. Joan García is missing in goal, with both Pedri and Gavi missing from midfield.
Key player
It’s a toss up between Fermín López and Marcus Rashford but we’ll opt for the latter – he has four assists and two goals from 2.3 xG in LaLiga, but also four goals and one assist in three matches in Europe. If he can keep producing those numbers the Catalan side will take the points.
Prediction
It might not be such a steamrollering, but if Bayern can beat Brugge by four then it’s likely Barcelona can get the job done too: Club Brugge 1-3 Barcelona.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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