Slavia Praha vs Barcelona 24/10/19

24 October 2019

Barcelona travel to the Sinobo Stadium to take on Slavia Praha in the UEFA Champions League (CL) Group F, looking to further improve their record in Prague (W3, D1, L1).

The reigning Czech Republic champions proved they are no pushovers at home during the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League campaign, winning three of six home matches in the competition (W3, D2, L1). But, a 2-0 home defeat to Borussia Dortmund last time out was Slavia’s second home reverse in Europe in the last three such matches (W1); both of those losses have seen them draw a blank. In fact, Dortmund’s triumph here has put an end to Slavia’s impressive 12-game winning run at home in all competitions. A potential worry for the ‘Červenobílí’ is that they’ve failed to pick up a win in ten of 12 meetings with La Liga opponents, although they have avoided failure in five of the last six such fixtures (W1, D4, L1).

Meanwhile, a 2-1 comeback win over Inter Milan at home on Matchday 2 saw the visitors set the wheels in motion following a goalless away draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Group F curtain-raiser. However, Ernesto Valverde is yet to figure out how to make his side starting dominating on the road regularly, with the Blaugrana struggling to collect three points in ten of their last 14 continental trips (W4, D6, L4). A four-game winning streak against the Czech Republic clubs can encourage the traveling side, especially as they’ve scored 13 goals and conceded just one across those matches. Another thing worth mentioning is that the Catalans have lost only two of their last 25 CL fixtures (W15, D8, L2), although both of those failures have come away from home.