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By:
Associated Press
- 12 October 2022 10:24
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Barcelona could be on the brink of another humiliating elimination in the group stage of the Champions League. With Barcelona and Inter vying for second place in Group C behind a perfect Bayern Munich, the Italian side are on top after controversially winning 1-0 at the San Siro last week. Another win for Inter at Camp Nou on Wednesday night (21:00) would mathematically qualify the Nerazzurri for the next round and force Barcelona to experience an early exit from this competition for the second year running. back-to-back, unless Bayern lose to Viktoria Plzen in what would be a huge upset.
Barcelona will look for inspiration for victory against Inter from Robert Lewandowski. The former Bayern striker scored a hat-trick against Plzen, but remained silent against his old team and was largely overshadowed in the first leg against Inter.
"We were flying until three weeks ago, but we are not flying anymore", admitted Xavi, the coach of Barcelona.
The only other time Barcelona failed to progress to the knockout stages in two consecutive Champions League seasons was in 1997/98 and 1998/99, when Louis van Gaal's side first finished behind Dynamo Kyiv and PSV Eindhoven and then behind finalists Bayern and Manchester United.
Last year, Barcelona experienced their worst Champions League season in nearly two decades, finishing behind Bayern and Benfica in their group, while going through a difficult financial situation that also saw Lionel Messi leave for Paris Saint-Germain. - Germain. Failure this season would be extremely difficult as the club spent heavily before the start of this season. In fact, Barça had a strong start this season, but coach Xavi Hernandez's side have started to struggle ahead of the crucial games against Inter in the Champions League and Real Madrid, the team they will face on Sunday in La Liga.
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Inter and Barcelona promise another great match
"Of course, Lewandowski is the superstar of our team and we expect a lot from him in the return match against Inter. After the loss last week, I think it's time to win this game that we play at home. Above all, our fate in the Champions League may depend on it," admitted the Barcelona midfielder, Pedri. "Maybe in the last matches we didn't play well, but I think the time has come to prove our qualities. The victory is mandatory for us and we will do our best for full points. Of course, it will not be easy, but we also have the support of our fans, which is very important for us."
Even coach Xavi believes in the victory of his team. He expects Inter to take a more defensive approach in this match, but insists that Barcelona is ready for any situation because it needs victory more than ever. According to him, Barcelona wants to get revenge on Inter for the defeat it caused in the last round.
"It is a match in which the psychological aspect is of great importance and the team is prepared in this aspect. I am optimistic for victory and I prefer with the result 2:0 rather than 1:0. We have to score an early goal and then try to end the game with another goal. We want to get revenge for everything that happened in Milan and we will give everything to make sure that the points will stay at home", insisted Xavi. "We lost the two games we played on the road and now it's time to do our homework properly. We want to recover the second place in the group and this match is like a final for us. The final is played to win. The players are aware of what they have to do."
Even in this match, Barcelona will be without defenders Jules Kounde and Ronald Araujo. On the other hand, striker Romelu Lukaku is expected to return to Inter. The Belgian trained with the rest of the squad on Tuesday after recovering from the injury that kept him out for several weeks.
"In last week's game we showed that we have a great desire to advance from the group stage, so even in Barcelona we will go out on the field to win the game. We are aware that it will be very difficult because a fiery atmosphere awaits us in the stadium, but we are ready to overcome this obstacle as well. It's an important match and we have to give our best to get a positive result", said the coach of Inter, Simone Inzaghi.
Wednesday
Group A
Napoli - Ajax (18:45)
Rangers – Liverpool (21:00)
1. Naples 3 9
2. Liverpool 3 6
3. Ajax 3 3
4. Rangers 3 0
Group B
Atl. Madrid – C. Brugge (18:45)
Bayer L. – Porto (21:00)
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Barcelona very motivated for the match with Inter
1. C. Brugge 3 9
2. Porto 3 3
3. Bayer L. 3 3
4. Atl. Madrid 3 3
Group C
Barcelona – Inter (21:00)
V. Plzen – Bayern M. (21:00)
1. Bayern M. 3 9
2. Inter 3 6
3. Barcelona 3 3
4. V. Plzen 3 0
Group D
Sporting - Marseille (21:00)
Tottenham – E. Frankfurt (21:00)
1. Sporting 3 6
2. Tottenham 3 4
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The match against Napoli, the most important of the season for Barça
3. E. Frankfurt 3 4
4. Marseille 3 3
