Barcelona and Bayern Munich meet on Friday evening in a hotly anticipated winner takes all Champions League quarter final.
The two European giants face off at Benfica’s Estadio da Luz, with the remainder of this season’s Champions League to be completed at neutral venues due to the ongoing Covid 19 crisis.
With Barça seeing off Napoli and Bayern smashing Chelsea and with some of the world’s best attackers on display, this game could be a lot of fun.
When Is Kick Off? Friday 14 August
What Time Is Kick Off? 20:00 (BST)
Where Is it Played? Estadio Da Luz
TV Channel/Live Stream: BT SportBT Sport (UK), fuboTV (US)
Bayern are without France defender Benjamin Pavard, who picked up an unfortunate ankle injury in training, as well as young forward Joshua Zirkzee, who is unwell. However, both Jerome Boateng and Kingsley Coman have trained and are expected to be fit for Friday’s match.
Although Ousmane Dembele has recently returned to training following a hamstring injury that kept him out for the majority of the season, he remains unlikely to feature. Samuel Umtiti, who has been sidelined since June, is not expected to return.
Barça will, however, welcome back midfield pair Sergio Busquets and Arturo Vidal, both of whom were suspended against Napoli.
Bayern Munich: Neuer; Kimmich, Boateng, Alaba, Davies; Goretzka, Thiago, Muller; Gnabry, Coman, Lewandowski.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Roberto, Rakitic, De Jong; Suarez, Messi, Griezmann.
Bayern are currently Europe’s in-form team. After the restart, they wrapped up the Bundesliga season with ease and won the DFB-Pokal. Despite not playing a competitive game for over a month, they showed no signs of rust as they dispatched Chelsea in the round of 16.
Barça had a dip in form after the break, drawing three times and losing their the penultimate game of the season to gift Real Madrid a title that for long points of the season looked destined to remain in Catalonia.
In a tightly poised second-leg clash against Napoli following a 1-1 draw in Italy, Barça were far the better side and won the game comfortably, with Lionel Messi the star once again.
Here’s a look at both teams’ last five fixtures:
Bayern
Bayern Munich 4-1 Chelsea (8/8)
Bayer Leverkusen 2-4 Bayern Munich (4/7)
Wolfsburg 0-4 Bayern Munich (27/6)
Bayern Munich 3-1 Freiburg (20/6)
Werder Bremen 0-1 Bayern Munich (16/6)
Barcelona
Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (8/8)
Alaves 0-5 Barcelona (19/7)
Barcelona 1-2 Osasuna (16/7)
Real Valladolid 0-1 Barcelona (11/7)
Barcelona 1-0 Espanyol (8/7)
As with the majority of their games this season, Barça’s chances are reliant on the performance of Messi. If he is at his scintillating best then maybe the Catalan side can nick a surprise victory against this brilliant Bayern side.
However, if the German side keep him at bay, this game is surely theirs. Recent form is on their side and they look destined to go far in this year’s competition. Expect Bayern’s forward line to be too hot too handle for Barça and for them to progress into the semi-finals.
Prediction: Barcelona 1-3 Bayern Munich
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