PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Bayern Munich

FC Barcelona's Champions League campaign continues on Wednesday at 9pm CEST with the third of eight games in the new-look League Stage. After a disappointing 2-1 defeat in the opening game in Monaco, the Catalans got things well back on track with an utterly convincing 5-0 rout of Young Boys. But now comes what many would regard as the toughest test of all. Bayern Munich are coming to the Estadi Olímpic.

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Painful as they are, this fixture always going to bring back memories of that fateful night in Lisbon in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, when the Bavarians inflicted a devastating 8-2 defeat on the Catalans. Since then, Barça have had two chances to bury those ghosts in the past, but sadly it hasn't happened. In the group stages of 2021 and 2022, Bayern won home and away both times, scoring 11 goals to Barça's none.

But things have changed. Curiously, two of the chief artifices of Bayern's recent dominance in this fixture are now defending the blaugrana cause. Robert Lewandowski, a four-time goalscorer against Barça in the past, is now racking up the goals in the Catalans' favour. And brilliantly... The Pole already has a massive 14 across all competitions in 2024/25.

And the man who masterminded Barça's biggest ever European defeat in 2020, Hansi Flick, is now in charge at the Estadi Olimpic. And the German has immediately had an impact. He has got the team off to one of its strongest ever starts to a league campaign, including such sensational results as the 5-1 battering of Sevilla last Sunday. It's not just the results but also the football that has been magnificent under Flick.

There are lot of scores to settle with Bayern Munich. And this is the perfect opportunity to do that!

Under new coach Vincent Company, Bayern need to win back the Bundesliga. After an incredible run of 11 consecutive league titles, they missed out to Bayer Leverkusen last season. This time round their main rivals may turn out to be RB Leipzig, with whom they are currently matched at the top of the table, both sides still uneaten.

As for the bid to win what would be a seventh Champions League title, despite an extraordinary 9-2 victory over Dinamo Zagreb in their opening game, they then fell to a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa.

It means that whichever side loses today will have only picked up three points from a possible nine. There would still be five games to go, but it would be a precarious situation nevertheless. This is a game that both sides very much need to win.

Barça have suffered awfully from injury problems this season, but this weekend at least some of those troubles ended. Best of all, Gavi got to play his first minutes for almost a year against Sevilla, while Fermín López also returned from injury. And although he didn't eventually play, Dani Olmo was also included the squad.

Marc ter Stegen, Ferran Torres, Marc Bernal, Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo, however, all remain sidelined.

For the visitors, young defensive midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic's excellent progress was cut short when he broke his collarbone at the weekend. Both of the team's natural right-backs, Josip Stanisic and Sacha Boey, are also unavailable but forward Jamal Musiala is included in the squad. 

Combining his time at Bayern and Barça, Hansi Flick has set an all-time Champions League record by winning 17 of his first 20 games in charge.

Barça are hoping to avoid what would become their longest ever losing streak against a single opponent. And Bayern are seeking to match the Champions League record of seven straight wins against the same team, currently held by Real Madrid for their wins over Ajax.

Having lost away to Real Madrid and Aston Villa this time, Bayern could be about to lose a third consecutive Champions League away match for the first time ever.

Hansi Flick: ""Bayern is a very important club for me, but now I am coach of Barça and I am very happy to be here. I'm living a wonderful new chapter in my life, and I sense that the fans are sharing that passion with me." FULL STORY HERE

Raphinha: "“I ended the game last season against PSG very sad. We were close to going through and that affected me. But now, fortunately, we are in the Champions League again, we have new objectives and we have to go step by step." FULL STORY HERE