Barcelona vs Bayern Munich

Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is the venue as familiar foes Barcelona and Bayern Munich go head-to-head in a mouth-watering UEFA Champions League showdown.

Barcelona flew out of the traps after the international break, demolishing Sevilla 5-1 at home last weekend to put a dismal 4-2 defeat at Osasuna behind them and maintain a three-point lead on second-placed Real Madrid in La Liga. Hansi Flick’s men are firing on all cylinders, netting 3+ goals in their last three competitive matches (W3), including a 5-0 thrashing of Young Boys in the previous Champions League round. It was a much-needed response following a 2-1 defeat at Monaco on day one, offering ‘Los Blaugranas’ some extra confidence ahead of this traditionally unpleasant fixture. Indeed, Flick was in the opposite dugout when Bayern Munich humbled Barcelona 8-2 in the iconic Champions League quarter-final tie in 2019/20. Since that fiasco, the Iberian heavyweights have lost four consecutive H2Hs by 2+ goals ‘to nil,’ highlighting the magnitude of the task awaiting them this week.

On the other hand, those victories form part of Bayern Munich’s six-game winning H2H streak, meaning they could become only the second team after Real Madrid in the mid-1960s to beat Barcelona in seven successive meetings. Like their hosts, Vincent Kompany’s men have experienced mixed fortunes in the early Champions League campaign, going from a record-breaking 9-2 victory against Dinamo Zagreb to losing 1-0 at Aston Villa last time out. The latter result formed part of Bayern’s three-match winless run in all competitions (D2, L1) until Harry Kane’s second-half hat-trick snapped that trend in a 4-0 rout of Stuttgart at the weekend. Given the visitors’ historic dominance in this fixture (W11, D2, L2), the Bundesliga titans should be confident about avoiding losing three consecutive European away games for the first time.