Barcelona will face Ukrainian minnows Dynamo Kyiv in a must-win game in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
Venue: Camp Nou
Key stats:
- Barcelona were winless in their first two games of the Champions League this season, losing to Bayern Munich and Benfica with the same scoreline 3-0.
- Dynamo Kyiv, on the other hand, are a place ahead of Barca in Group E, having drawn against Benfica. However, they suffered a 5-0 loss to Bayern.
- Barca’s form in La Liga is also a worrying sight as they are currently 7th in the table.
Head to Head record
Kyiv have never managed to beat the Catalan giants in four of their previous encounters, losing all of them.
Recent form
Barca: D W L L W
Kyiv: L W L D W
Barcelona
Barcelona have endured a nightmare start to the Champions League this season, suffering back to back heavy defeats against Bayern and Benfica.
Another defeat would dent their chances of progressing to the round of 16 and Barca will now look to avoid such a scenario.
Ronald Koeman’s side would look to leave their troubles behind and carry on the winning momentum they created on Sunday against Valencia. Furthermore, the Catalans’ track record against Kyiv is an added advantage.
However, the injury list has piled up for Barca, with Pedri, Ousmane Dembele and Ronald Araujo set to miss the UCL tie on Wednesday.
Nonetheless, youngsters like Ansu Fati, Gavi and Sergino Dest have been impressive of late and they would look to make a big impact against the Ukrainian minnows.
Possible line-ups
Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Jordi Alba, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Sergi Roberto; Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi; Sergino Dest, Memphis Depay, Ansu Fati
Dynamo Kyiv
Kyiv have failed to create a similar impact in the Champions League as they did at the Ukrainian top flight this season.
Despite their poor record against Barca, Kyiv would look to take a leaf out of Benfica’s book and try to upset the Catalan giants, whose form has been quite underwhelming this season.
Possible line-ups
Denys Boyko; Vitalii Mykolenko, Artem Shabanov, Illia Zabarnyi, Oleksandr Tymchyk; Serhiy Sydorchuk, Mykola Shaparenko; Vitaliy Buyalskiy, Viktor Tsygankov, Carlos de Pena; Denys Garmash
Prediction
Barcelona 4 – 1 Dynamo Kyiv
