The Champions does not admit more setbacks

A two-leg tie. That is what Barcelona starts this Tuesday in Italy against Inter Milan. The team led by Xavi will play two games against the Transalpines in one week with the need to be superior and thus achieve a ticket to the round of 16, a ticket that Bayern Munich seems to have already secured. The first step, the most difficult, will be on a stage for which excuses are no longer valid because the time has come to compete in the top continental competition.

«Things are being done well but now it is another story. We have just lost in Munich and we have to show personality and tell ourselves that it is time to perform in this competition. It is not a definitive match, but it is very important for what may happen in the group”, Xavi assured in the press conference prior to the clash. The Tarrasa coach is aware of what lies ahead, a match marked in red on the calendar since Bayern inflicted their first defeat on them in this Champions League.

Barcelona arrives at this key moment of the season with morale through the roof. Xavi’s men have accumulated six consecutive victories in the League, they have regained the lead after more than two years and they have a player who is proving to be lethal in front of goal and who knows how to handle himself in this type of event like few others. It is time for Robert Lewandowski, the time to shine and start to end the bad run that the Catalans have been going through in the Champions League in recent seasons, especially away from the Camp Nou.

To do this, Xavi will have to overcome an infirmary that continues to fill up day after day. The ‘FIFA virus’ took Koundé, Araujo and Memphis Depay ahead, then Bellerín fell and the last to join was Frenkie de Jong, who failed to arrive in time after suffering a strain in the semitendinosus of the left thigh. The Dutchman, who was doubtful until the last minute, has not entered a squad list in which Marc Casadó repeats and from which the Tarrasa coach will have to extract an eleven guarantee. Sergi Roberto could enter on the right side, Marcos Alonso on the left and from then on all the meat would be on the grill. Busquets, Gavi, Pedri, Raphinha, Dembélé and Lewandowski, the sextet that has convinced Xavi the most would be at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium to achieve a crucial victory to be in the round of 16.

An opponent hit

The good news that Barça has is that the best Inter Milan will not be in front. The team led by Simone Inzaghi has started the season irregularly and is far from the team that conquered Serie A just two seasons ago. In the first eight days of the Italian championship he has added just 12 points, has scored 14 goals and, therein lies the main problem, he has received a whopping 13 goals. That figure, which contrasts with the 35 that conceded the last time they were champions, is what Xavi’s team clings to in order to deal the blow that allows them to achieve the three points.

Inter does not arrive well and will also have to overcome the absence of one of its great banners. Lautaro Martínez, who was practically ruled out by Simone Inzaghi due to “muscular fatigue”, will not be there and joins the casualties due to injury to Brozovic, Cordaz, Dalbert and Romelu Lukaku, practically unprecedented so far this year due to thigh discomfort . All these absences will force the Italian coach to improvise an eleven in which the great hope will be Edin Dzeko, a sure thing on the big European nights.