Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez hopes that his Polish top scorer Robert Lewandowski will be at the top of his level to avenge his loss against Inter Milan in the first leg, when he hosts him at Camp Nou today, Wednesday, in the fourth round of the group stage of the Champions League, while Bayern Munich seeks The German, Italian Napoli and Belgian Brugge to reserve the ticket to qualify for the final price.
Xavi is looking for the best solutions to the problems that plague the Catalan club in a crucial week in which it hosts the “Nerazzuri” in the main continental competition, before visiting the “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium to play the “Clásico” against the traditional rivals Real Madrid.
The confrontation with Inter is considered a life or death for Barcelona, which does not want to repeat the scenario of last season when it was eliminated from the group stage, to enter the European League competition “European League”.
Xavi is well aware of the suffering of his team in the recent period, as Continental lost to Inter 0-1 in the previous round, before narrowly winning locally over Celta Vigo with an orphan goal, so he said Sunday, “We are not at the best level in this period since the international window.”
‘We have to evolve’
“Three weeks ago we were flying and now we don’t do that anymore. We have to evolve.”
Lewandowski’s goals, the top scorer in “La Liga” (9), contributed to his team ascending to the top of the league for the first time since June 2020.
Although Barcelona did not taste the taste of losing in the league, the story is different on the continental level, as it fell to Bayern Munich and Inter, respectively, to fall to third place in the “group of death” with only 3 points, which puts it in front of the inevitability of winning Wednesday’s match.
The former Bavarian club’s top scorer led his current team Barcelona to beat Real Mallorca, by scoring the only goal of the match from an individual effort, to fast from scoring in the next two matches.
“He was not comfortable in the second half against Celta, but it was the case for the whole team,” Xavi said of the Polish, adding, “We have to find him more.”
The players of the wings suffered in the backyard of their team Barcelona, Veran Torres and the Brazilian Rafinha missed a lot of opportunities and failed to communicate with Lewandowski, and the situation was not better with the entry of Ansu Fati and Frenchman Ousmane Dembele in the second half.
“They may be more concerned about the result,” Xavi added. Attackers need to score goals in order to generate more confidence.”
On the other hand, after playing the first leg with five defenders, Inter is betting on playing the defensive card against the Catalan club, realizing that a draw is in his interest.
The seventh Italian league, at its “Giuseppe Meazza” stadium, succeeded in disrupting the effectiveness of the midfield duo Pedri and Gavi, who struggled to impose his talent, while easily dealing with crosses inside the area.
Bayern steadily
On the other hand, injured Bayern Munich is going locally at a steady pace to reserve the ticket to qualify for the final price, when it comes as a heavy guest on the Czech Viktoria Plzen, who was swept in the first leg by five clean.
The Bavaria giants lead with a full mark and a clean sheet, while crushing their opponents with nine goals.
The most important question remains: Can Julian Nagelsmann manage the crisis that Bayern is going through locally, as he returned to the cycle of draws after two big wins over Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 and Plzen, as he gave up his two-goal lead in the “Classic” against Borussia Dortmund to come out with a 2-2 draw, It finds itself in third place, 4 points behind leader Union Berlin.
Liverpool to heal its local wound
In the first group, Napoli leads with the full mark with the strongest attacking line (13 goals), as it began its adventure by beating Liverpool 4-1 before crushing Ajax at home 6-1.
The southern club owes its attacking efficiency to the dangerous duo Jacomo Rasbadori and Poland’s Pyotr Jelinsky (3 goals each), in addition to the brilliant newcomer wing Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Napoli hopes to restore the efforts of its star Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen, who only played 40 minutes in the group stage this season, after he was injured in the first half of his team’s match against Liverpool.
For his part, Liverpool, second in the group (6 points), seeks to heal its local wounds, as it occupies tenth place, with a continental victory, when it hosts Glasgow Rangers of Scotland.
The Reds are suffering from injuries in their ranks, as they will be denied the services of Colombian striker Luis Dias until after the World Cup in Qatar, after he suffered a knee ligament injury during Sunday’s loss to Arsenal, while also awaiting the results of the tests of his back Trent Alexander Arnold, who suffered an ankle injury during The meeting itself.
Bruges to cross
In the second group, Club Brugge shuffled the cards by leading with the full score, as he could qualify for the final price, if he repeated his victory over Atletico Madrid, bottom of the table (3).
The German Bayer Leverkusen hosts its Portuguese guest, Porto, in a crucial match to decide the second place, where the door of possibilities is still wide open, to equal points with Atletico.
In the fourth, the second English club Tottenham (4 points) seeks to return to the winning streak after losing to Sporting, Portugal, 0-2, before falling into the trap of a goalless draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, who is hosting it at home in this round.
For his part, Sporting hopes to consolidate its lead (6 points) when it receives in a revenge match the bottom club Marseille, who achieved its first continental victory this season against its current guest in the last round 4-1, after two defeats in a row against Tottenham 0-2 and Eintracht Frankfurt 0 -1.