Barcelona look to rebound from a disappointing finish to their weekend match against Real Betis and win their fifth consecutive game in the League Phase of this season’s Champions League when they travel to Germany for a monster clash against Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park.
Barça’s European campaign has survived their recent run of poor results, and the Catalans would take a massive step towards an automatic spot in the Round of 16 if they can manage to get all three points against a direct rival for a Top 8 finish. But Dortmund have been pretty much unbeatable at home this season, and will look to take advantage of Barça’s dip in form to get a big win in front of the famous Yellow Wall.
Here’s how we think Hansi Flick will line up his troops for Wednesday’s battle.
Defense
Real Betis V Fc Barcelona - Laliga Ea Sports Photo By Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press via Getty Images
Barça’s defense has looked very vulnerable in the last month and Flick’s famous offside trap is getting exploited more and more as opponents get used to it, and the lack of depth at the back doesn’t help either as the starting defenders have to play heavy minutes and are surely getting tired, which has no doubt contributed to their poor performances at the back.
Unfortunately Ronald Araujo is not quite ready to return yet and Andreas Christensen is still several weeks away from coming back, so the back four of Jules Kounde, Pau Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez and Alejandro Balde will have to start once again looking to deal with the pace of Dortmund’s attack. Iñaki Peña had an unbelievable afternoon against Betis and was the sole reason Barça didn’t lose at the weekend, and continues to prove his critics wrong and keep Wojciech Szczesny on the bench.
Midfield
Real Betis Balompie v FC Barcelona - La Liga EA Sports Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images
Barça’s midfield also struggled against Betis, with the exception of Pedri who was great in the first half and wasn’t on the pitch for the late second half collapse. Marc Casadó and Dani Olmo did play below their usual standards, however, and must do a lot better if Barça are to survive the Yellow Wall and leave Dortmund with a win.
Flick could also replace those two with the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Gavi, but the Dutchman might not be in a great mental space after his disastrous substitute cameo against Betis and Gavi appears to still be a secondary option in Flick’s depth chart for games of this magnitude.
Attack
Real Betis V Fc Barcelona - Laliga Ea Sports Photo By Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press via Getty Images
Robert Lewandowski has scored a whole lot of goals for and against Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park and will try to do find the net there again as he looks to continue his awesome scoring run this season. These games are always special for the Pole, and he’ll hope to get quality service from Lamine Yamal and Raphinha to score against his former club once again.
Possible XI: Peña; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Balde; Casadó, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski (4-2-3-1)
How do you think Barcelona should line up against Dortmund? Let us know your thoughts, predictions and teams in the comments below!