With the chance of qualifying for the knockout stages at stake, Barcelona will look to go all guns blazing when they face group winners Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday. Barcelona are currently in 2nd place with 7 points from 5 games but anything other than three points on Wednesday will mean they will have to depend on other results to ensure qualification. A draw won’t be enough for Barca since Benfica will be ahead in head-to-head if they manage to beat Dynamo Kyiv. It will need a mammoth task from Xavi’s men to beat the Bavarians at their own backyard in order to qualify further in the competition.
4-3-3 Barcelona Predicted Lineup To Face Bayern Munich
Defence
Marc-Andre ter Stegen will continue between the sticks for the Blaugranas and will be looking to bag his 4th cleansheet of the competition on Wednesday.
Oscar Mingueza and Gerrard Pique are expected to come back into the starting XI after missing out on the last game against Real Betis. The centre-back partnership of Ronald Araujo and Gerrard Pique will need to be solid at the back to keep the Bayern attackers at bay for 90 minutes. Oscar Mingueza will have the tough task of handling Sane in the left flank whereas Jordi Alba will be given some freedom to push forward and put crosses into the box.
Sergi Roberto is out injured with a thigh issue. Samuel Umtiti, Sergino Dest and Eric Garcia will cover for the defensive areas on the bench.
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Midfield
Frenkie De Jong will come back into the middle of the park alongside veteran Sergio Busquets hoping to control the tempo of the game. Pedri has been ruled out of the 2021 calendar year after a relapse of his thigh injury and is a big blow to the new manager Xavi. Pablo Gavira might also miss the tie due to a concussion.
Nico Gonzalez will start alongside De Jong and Busquets to form a midfield three and look to control the game from the middle of the park. Ricard Puig will be an option from the bench for Xavi to bring on in the later stages of the game.
Attack
Ansu Fati is still recovering from a hamstring injury and will be unavailable for the clash against Bayern Munich on Wednesday. Ousmane Dembele is expected to get his first start after coming back from an injury. Memphis Depay will lead the line and will look to exploit his pace behind the Bayern defence which has looked shaky in the last few games.
