Barcelona hosts Inter Milan on Wednesday (2:00 p.m.) in a match without the right to fail, in which a defeat would practically leave them out of the Champions League in the group stage.
The Barça team is third in Group C three points behind second-placed Inter and six behind leaders Bayern Munich, who have a full of victories and to whom a new triumph against Viktoria Pilsen on Wednesday would give the ma thematical classification.
The last two Barça defeats against Bayern and Inter have greatly complicated the path of the Catalan team, which, in case of defeat, only a stumble of the Germans against the modest Viktoria, would give some oxygen.
“We are in an uncomfortable situation and now we have emergencies, but we have a final to try to fix it,” Barça coach Xavi Hernandez said at the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
Barcelona vs Inter Milan: schedules in the world
Peru: 2:00 p.m
Mexico:2:00 p.m
Colombia: 2:00 p.m
Ecuador: 2:00 p.m
Chile: 3:00 p.m
Bolivia: 3:00 p.m
Venezuela:3:00 p.m.
Argentina: 4:00 p.m
Uruguay: 4:00 p.m.
Brazil: 4:00 p.m
Spain: 9:00 p.m.
The crucial duel with Inter also comes a few days before the league classic against Real Madrid next Sunday, in which the two greats of Spanish football will play the lead of their domestic championship.
The Barça team will host Inter after beating Celta by the minimum on Saturday in a match in which the Barça players ended up suffering.
Faced with this, on Wednesday “we will go on the attack, we have to be intense. What worries us is attacking better,” Xavi said.
Is this how Inter Milan arrives?
Opposite will be an Inter, which the controversial victory of last week, with Barça complaints about the arbitration, has revived.
Arrived at that meeting with two consecutive defeats in the Italian league, after beating Barça, the Lombard team also won 2-1 against Sassuolo at the weekend to take another step towards the noble zone of the Italian league classification.
“Before the first leg, I said that the duel with Barcelona was a great opportunity to show our value and we knew how to take advantage of it. Now this match is fundamental for the qualification (to eighth),” said the coach of the Italian team, Simone Inzaghi.
The victory against Barça last week allowed Inter to get back on track in the Champions League, where they now have a good chance to get into the knockout stages with a new triumph.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Eric García, Piqué, Marcos Alonso; Busquets, De Jong, Gavi, Pedri; Dembélé, Raphinha and Lewandowski.
Inter Milan: Onana; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco or Gosens; Dzeko and Lautaro.
Inter Milan are currently in seventh place in the Serie A standings and has been plagued by inconsistency so far this season. The Nerazzurri edged Sassuolo to an important 2-1 victory over the weekend and will look to achieve a similar result in this fixture.
Barcelona, on the other hand, is at the top of the La Liga table at the moment and has been fairly impressive this year. The Blaugrana held their nerve to secure a 1-0 victory against Celta Vigo in their previous game and will need to take it up a notch this week.
Barcelona has experienced a slump after the international break and has a few issues to address ahead of the game. The Catalans cannot afford to slip into the Europa League this season and have a point to prove this week.
Inter Milan are set to employ another low block and hit their opponents on the counter. Barcelona have a home advantage this week, however, and holds the upper hand going into this game.
