Full coverage of Barcelona's UEFA Champions League Group F clash with APOEL Nicosia, as the Blaugrana seek to keep the pressure on group leaders Paris Saint-Germain
FC Barcelona will be looking to continue where they left off at the weekend when they travel to Cyprus tomorrow to take on Cypriot champions APOEL Nicosia in the UEFA Champions League. With three wins and a defeat to their name after four matchdays, FC Barcelona find themselves in an unfamiliar position – second place – in Group F, and with a crunch showdown with group leaders Paris Saint-Germain scheduled for Matchday 6 at the Camp Nou, the Blaugrana need a win tomorrow to keep the pressure on.
In principle, there is no reason why a win tomorrow in the Mediterranean couldn’t hand Barça the initiative in Group F; PSG struggled to a draw in their previous fixture against AFC Ajax and only narrowly defeated APOEL in the previous matchday. They are far from invincible anyway, while with all due respect, a trip to Cyprus should yield a comfortable victory for the Blaugrana.
As if to emphasise that fact further, Luis Enrique has named a strong 22-man squad for the trip to Nicosia; record-breaker Lionel Messi leads the squad, with Neymar, Luis Suarez, Xavi, Ivan Rakitić and the rest of the supporting cast tagging along for the journey.
Naturally, Andrés Iniesta and Thomas Vermaelen remain sidelined with their respective ailments, but with a near identical squad to the one that demolished Sevilla FC at his disposal, Lucho must be feeling confident of his chances at securing the win.
TEAM NEWS
BARCELONA
I outlined the headlines earlier; Messi, Suarez and Neymar are all still "in", Iniesta and Vermaelen are still "out", while four players will eventually miss the cut and watch tomorrow’s match from the stands. The identity of that quartet? Who knows at this stage; it might be made up of the usual suspects of fringe players, or it might be a mixture of back-up players with a star name or two thrown in for good measure as Enrique surely has one eye on the tough fixture at the Mestalla against Valencia this weekend.
Marc-André ter Stegen has been quoted this week as saying how "difficult" it has been to adapt to a back-up role in Catalunya after a starring role for Borussia Monchengladbach, yet as ever, it appears as though the story is primarily driven by the tabloids who are trying to make another mountain out of a mole-hill. Of course, any player would prefer to start for his club, but ter Stegen is learning. He is adapting to the culture, both in Spain and at FC Barcelona. Indeed, he’s doing all that while going toe-to-toe with one of the best keepers in the world, Claudio Bravo.
For now, a supporting role is all he can expect, but with patience and given time, he could easily make that leap to number one and establish himself as Barça’s shot-stopper for the next decade or more. Bide your time Marc, it’ll all be worth it, we promise.
In defense, maybe we could spot a sighting of an endangered species, a lesser-seen Martin Montoya? Well, probably not. If anything, we’ll see Douglas, or Dani Alves, or even Adriano at right-back before Montoya. Alas...although there is good news as Marc Bartra could start at centre-half for the second match in succession. Jeremy Mathieu would be odds-on to join the Catalan in the heart of defense, with Adriano potentially rounding off the backline.
That’s contingent however on Javier Mascherano starting at pivote, otherwise it’s probable that the Argentine will start ahead of Bartra in defense with Sergio Busquets retaining his place as midfield anchor. Given the calibre of the opposition and the comparative unimportance of the fixture compared to the clash with Los Che, I’d opt for the former, but hey, who can second-guess what Lucho is thinking?
This is also the kind of game where I would hand a start to Sergi Roberto, but then again I am a little crazy, so Enrique might ignore me and go for the safe option of Ivan Rakitić alongside Rafinha. Whatever the case, I think Xavi is due a rest with Valencia in mind, and either way, I see Rakitić as the "senior" member of the midfield.
Then again, what does the midfield matter when you have an attack like this? Lionel Messi will start as he looks for another record, while Luis Suarez should start as he continues to search for his first goal in Blaugrana colours. I think Neymar sits this one out, allowing Munir and Pedro to fight it out for the final spot in the fabled attacking triumvirate. Pedro is due a start, but there’s something about Munir that means I’m gonna hold out to see his name on the teamsheet instead. Sorry Pedro!
APOEL
While they haven’t won a match yet this UEFA Champions League campaign, APOEL have only conceded four goals meaning that they fall squarely into the definition of potential banana skin rather than whipping boys. With their home crowd behind them, it will be a tough experience for the Barça contingent against an APOEL side that has kept four clean sheets in its last five outings. On the other hand, they haven’t scored in their last three fixtures either, so good luck challenging a team that boasts Lionel Messi in its starting line-up.
FORM GUIDE
Barcelona: WLLWWW
APOEL: LWWLDD
LAST MEETING
FC Barcelona 1-0 APOEL Nicosia – 17th September 2014 – UEFA Champions League
It was supposed to be a straight-forward encounter, but FC Barcelona needed a rare set piece goal from Gerard Piqué to overcome their plucky visitors, as a spirited APOEL performance saw the Cypriots come close to a shock result.
LIKELY LINE-UPS
Barcelona (4-3-3): ter Stegen; Douglas, Bartra, Mathieu, Adriano; Mascherano, Rafinha, Rakitić; Pedro, Messi, Suarez
APOEL (4-4-2): Pardo; Sergio, Carlao, Guilherme, Antoniades; Gomes, Vincius, Morais, Efrem; Djebbour, Manduca
MATCH PREDICTION
APOEL have done well up to this point, but you just know that Lionel Messi is going to ruin that for them tomorrow. 3-0 Barça.
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