The Barça no longer has a network in the Champions. Kicked by the Bayern at the Camp Nou and for Benfica in Lisbon, with zero goals in favor and six against in two games, he leaps into the void today, in unusual hours in European afternoons18:45 hours), and with a rival who brings him some bad memories (follow the game live on AS.com). That Dinamo de Kiev de Shevchenko it always appears in some bad dream. These days, Dinamo circulate in the 30th place in the UEFA rankings, and they are not that very dangerous team; less, that tremendous General Lobanovskyi and Belanov, that won the 1986 Cup Winners’ Cup against Atlético de Madrid. “Let’s go, tomorrow we lose 3-0”, they say Luis Aragonés told his assistants when they saw the previous training of the then Russians at Gerland de Lyon. And 3-0 ended.
The data is cruel for Barça. Only eight percent of the teams that lost the first two games of the group stage reached the round of 16. The elimination, in addition, would return to the Barça to the years of lead. From the 2000-01 season is not out of the round of 16. The sporting disaster would be joined by the economic one, since the annual memory that was delivered in the Assembly of delegates last Sunday indicates that the club has budgeted access to the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Being left out in the first phase would therefore mean a loss of 20 million euros.
At least the Barça recovered some good sensations against Valencia. He knew how to overcome the 0-1, has confirmed that Ansu is his franchise player; the Alba’s return was key; and the midfield, even without Pedri, inspired a little more confidence. Koeman can’t save anything for the Classic and he needs mature players to give the level: Piqué, Busquets, De Jong, Memphis and Coutinho himself, who could be a starter to give Gavi some oxygen. But Lucescu is old fox and he knows that this is not the Barça that frustrated him when he was in Donetsk. How Guardiola suffered, Mircea.
Gavi and Coutinho fight for a place in an eleven that does not look at the Classic
In its First season As coach of Barça, Koeman was not fond of moving the team if it worked. And as before Valencia the azulgrana they played a good game, there will be few changes unless there is physical discomfort. In defence, Lenglet or Umtiti will replace the sanctioned Eric Garcia. In the center of the field is the great unknown. Busquets and De Jong are fixed. The other place is played by Gavi and Coutinho. Koeman could give some oxygen to Los Palacios, which comes from a brutal effort on the Wanda and la Nations League. The Brazilian scored and needs minutes. Above, the Ansu-Memphis-Dest experiment worked, so Koeman could give it continuity. Koeman has not been able to recover any of the injured but, nevertheless, he already has Agüero O Luke de Jong to play quality minutes when Ansu, who will play another hour today, shows signs of fatigue.