The worst rival and the worst place

Whatever happens tonight in Munich (9:00 p.m. Movistar Champions League) nothing will be the same for Xavi’s Barça. The Barcelona team is playing a card and a half to overcome the group stage of the Champions. To ensure the round of 16 they have to beat the worst rival, Bayern Munich, in the worst place, the Allianz Arena (follow the game live on As.com). Or if you can’t, expect Benfica to fail in front of their home crowd and not be able to beat a Dynamo Kyiv that he no longer has anything to fight in this competition. But this is soccer.

To achieve the feat in Germany in the very cave of the ogre that has starred in the nightmares of the Barcelona fans since 2-8 in Lisbon a year and a half ago, Xavi would win an unlimited credit that would consolidate him as the correct bet. In case of falling, Barça would go on to play the Europa League and the pressure on the new Barcelona coach would increase exponentially. When Xavi reached the Camp Nou bench, the team was one goal away from Benfica from securing the knockout stages of the Champions League. The Barça did not happen of the tie to zero and today it assumes a gigantic challenge.

Ousmane hour. Such is the situation in Barcelona, ​​that all eyes are focused on Ousmane Dembélé, who will be starter in Munich for the first time this season and that arrives with a band of great hope.

Clinging to the Dembélé weapon, Barcelona will try to surprise a Bayern that has already done its homework: they are first in the group no matter what happens and they can afford to rotate touched players and not take risks.

The game will be played behind closed doors This is an advantage for Barcelona fans, although empirical experience shows that this is not a guarantee of anything, because in the quarterfinals in Lisbon, Bayern, without an audience, crushed the Barcelona fans, who have since punished until meeting today in the worst place against the worst rival.