The Champions League day 1 will begin with last year’s La Liga title winners Barcelona hosting their Belgian Pro League counterparts Royal Antwerp FC.
Barcelona would like to not repeat last year’s nightmare performance in the Champions League. During the La Liga campaign, Blaugrana has come out as a team with strong defence earning 3 clean sheets in 5 fixtures. We might see some early goals from the hosts on Wednesday.
The Great Olds will be in the Champions League campaign for the first time in their entire history. They would like to kickstart the league on a positive note but the team management will be aware that the hosts won’t make mistakes during the match.
Lewandowski scored a goal in all last 3 fixtures for Barcelona
The betting tip is...
Robert Lewandowski will score a goal.
Barcelona is coming to play in the European Cup after scoring a 5-0 win over Real Betis in their previous fixture.
The one-sided affair witnessed Joao Felix, Robert Lewandoski, Ferran Torres, Raphina, and Joao Cancelo scoring goals while keeping possession of 66% during the game.
The result shows that Barca will be in the attacking mode and at the same time their defence will be at its best.
There are doubts about the appearance of Ilkay Gundogan in the game because of his back issues even though he was featured against Real Betis.
16-year-old Lamine Yamal is expected to make his debut for the team on Wednesday but he won’t be part of the starting XI.
Predicted Lineup: Ter Stegen; Cancelo, Kounde, Christensen, Balde; Gavi, De Jong, Gundogan; Yamal, Lewandowski, Felix
Antwerp will be excited to be part of their first Champions League tournament after their fifth Belgian First Division title last season. However, the start of the current season has not been good for Antwerp.
They started the league campaign with a loss and have shown slow progress. The Great Olds are travelling to Camp Nou after scoring a win over Westerlo by 0-3 and will be confident enough to face the La Liga giants.
Ortwin De Wolf, Davino Verhulst, Bjorn Engels, Sam Vines and Kobe Corbanie are out of action because of their respective injuries.
Predicted Lineup: Butez; Bataille, Van den Bosch, Coulibaly, De Laet; Keita, Ekkelenkamp, Vermeeren; Balikwisha, Janssen, Muja
Both teams are coming after scoring a win in their respective league fixtures. However, Antwerp will be without their primary players as their camp has major injury concerns.
On the other hand, Barcelona has shown major progress in their defence department and even Antwerp’s leading goalscorer Vincent Janssen might find it difficult to score goals.
Yamal, Lewandowski, and Felix from Barca are in ferocious form and we expect goals from the trio. Overall, we predict a win for Barcelona on Wednesday.
