Photo: EFE
The third time could be the charm. Xavi Hernández’s Barcelona debuts today in the Champions League against the Belgian Antwerp (1:00 p.m.) with a simple challenge: reach the round of 16, a fact that he has not achieved in the last two seasons.
And in those tournaments the Blaugranas have been third in the group stage and did not qualify for the direct knockouts. They won only 2 of the 6 games last season, both against Czech side Viktoria Pilsen.
But the sensations at the beginning of the course are different. Despite the minimal investment, Barcelona (with 3.4 million) is the one that has spent the least of all the participants; The Blaugrana have put together a team of guarantees, built on the basis of players who were ending their contracts and others, such as Joao Félix and Joao Cancelo, who arrived on loan and in need of vindication.
And all this seasoned with an emerging star like Lamine Yamal, a world-class goalkeeper, like the German Marc André ter Stegen, and all the reinforced lines.
The European dance will begin against Antwerp, trained with an old acquaintance of Barcelona fans, the Dutchman Mark van Bommel, and with another ex-Azulgrana (Marc Overmars) as technical director.
Van Bommel won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2005-2006, the only one he wore Barcelona’s colors; Overmars was there for four seasons, from 2000 to 2004. In any case, it will be the first European confrontation between both clubs, second if you count the Fairs Cup tie played in the 1965-1966 campaign.
It will also be the debut of Montjuïc as the venue for a Champions League match. So far, Barcelona has only played one in the Olympic Mountain stadium; It was in the 1996-1997 season, and due to the poor condition of the Camp Nou grass.
2023-09-19 10:07:00
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