As the 2016-17 campaign of the UEFA Champions League gets underway, Barcelona welcome Scottish champions Celtic to the Camp Nou to play the opening fixture of Group C on Tuesday.
Five-time winners Barcelona take to the stage once more on Tuesday in the Champions League in a bid to add a 6th title to their collection and possibly close down the gap between them and Real Madrid in the European trophy haul. After their unprecedented treble winning exploits in the 2014-15 campaign, the Blaugrana only managed to secure the league and Copa Del Rey in the following season.
While Barcelona are always a tough side to beat, Celtic can look to exploit the fact that the Catalans come into the fixture on the back of a damaging loss at home to newly-promoted Deportivo Alaves during the weekend. The Scottish champions, on the other hand, arrive at the back of a 5-1 thrashing of Rangers in the Old Firm derby and will be raring to have a go at the La Liga giants.
Team News and Tactics
FC Barcelona
Keeping the Champions League in mind, Luis Enrique rested a sizeable number of his first team players during his side’s shock La Liga loss against Deportivo Alaves. That means the likes of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Iniesta are all expected to return to the squad for the visit of Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, summer signing Andre Gomes is yet to recover from the bruising that kept him out of reckoning for Portugal’s 2018 World Cup qualifying games during the international break. Fellow summer recruit Jasper Cillesen, who arrived at the Camp Nou from Ajax, made his debut during the Catalans’ loss to Alaves and may also be considered for selection on Tuesday.
However, first-choice keeper Marc Andre ter Stegen, who was recovering from a hamstring injury, trained on Monday. So there is a chance of the German making an early return for the Champions League encounter.
While Barcelona’s attack and midfield selects itself, the defence is what Enrique will have to think about. The absence of Gerard Pique saw Javier Mascherano struggle to fit into his shoes. However, it is unlikely that performance against Alaves will dictate his place against Celtic, for he still remains a key member of the squad. Sergi Roberto could get to the nod to take the right-back slot due to a poor run of performances from Aleix Vidal. Jordi Alba is expected to take Lucas Digne’s place at left-back while Jeremy Mathieu or even Samuel Umtiti could take their place at centre-back.
Starting XI (4-3-3): ter Stegen; Roberto, Mascherano, Mathieu, Digne; Iniesta, Busquets, Rakitic; Messi, Suarez, Neymar
Celtic
Brendan Rodgers’ side certainly come into the game as underdogs but will be high on confidence following their 5-1 demolition of Old Firm rivals Rangers on Saturday. Top scorer Leigh Griffiths is set to miss out due to a hamstring injury which means derby hero Moussa Dembele, who scored a hattrick during the weekend, could start up front for the Scottish champions.
Scott Brown, who hobbled off the pitch against Rangers, has been declared fit and travelled with the squad to Spain to face the Catalan side. There are no further injury worries holding back Celtic ahead of the Champions League opener. As Barcelona well know, securing a huge win over your biggest rival tends to kick-start a season, and therefore there’s every reason for Celtic fans to feel optimistic headed into tomorrow’s match.
It’ll be interesting to see how Rodgers manages to bridge the evident gulf in class between the two teams and what he would have learnt from Alaves’ triumph over the Blaugrana a few days earlier.
Starting XI (4-2-3-1): de Vries; Lustig, Toure, Sviatchenko, Tierney; Brown, Bitton; Sinclair, Rogic, Forrest; Dembele
Key Stats
- Barcelona have won six of their eight Champions League games against Celtic, with the latter’s only win coming in November 2012 when they beat the Catalan side 2-1 at Celtic Park
- Celtic have lost on their last three trips to the Nou Camp, all in the Champions League.
- Messi has netted 83 goals in the Champions League, the second highest tally in the competition behind Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 93.
- Neymar’s first hat-trick for Barcelona came against Celtic in the Champions League in December 2013, when Barca thrashed the Scottish side 6-1.
- Rodgers has won just one of his six group games as a manager in the Champions League – that victory coming in September 2014 when his former club Liverpool beat Ludogorets Razgrad 2-1.
Players to watch out for
FC Barcelona: Luis Suarez
nmThe Uruguayan has started off his season well with the similar vigour and thirst for goals as the last campaign. He would be up against his former boss from his Liverpool days but that will certainly not hold him back as he’ll look to devour the Celtic defence.
Celtic: Moussa Dembele
In the absence of Leigh Griffiths, the French international has grabbed his opportunity with both hands. Rodgers will look towards Dembele once more to deliver the goods against Barcelona, just like he did with his hat-trick against Rangers.
Prediction
FC Barcelona 4-0 Celtic
Although both the sides come into the fixture on the back of contrasting results, it’s hard to see how that would affect the gulf in class between the two sides. The game, which could also see the return of the trinity of MSN for the first time this season, could prove too much to cope for the Scottish Champions.
