Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez hopes his Polish top scorer Robert Lewandowski will be at the top of his level to avenge his defeat against Inter in the first leg when he hosts him at Camp Nou today, Wednesday, in the fourth round of the Serie A stage. Champions League, while Bayern Munich seeks the German, the Italian Napoli and the Belgian Brugge to book the ticket to qualify for the final price.
Xavi is looking for the best solutions to the problems facing the Catalan club in a crucial week in which he will host the “Nerazzuri” in the main continental competition, before going to the “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium to play the “Clásico” against their traditional rivals. Real Madrid.
The confrontation with Inter is considered a life or death for Barcelona, who do not want to repeat the scenario of last season when they were eliminated from the group stage, to enter the European League competition “European League”.
Xavi is well aware of his side’s suffering in the last period, as Continental lost 0-1 to Inter in the previous round, before narrowly winning locally over Celta Vigo with an orphaned goal, so Sunday has said: “We are not at the best level in this period from the international window”.
‘We must evolve’
“Three weeks ago we were flying and now we don’t do it anymore. We have to evolve.”
Goals from Lewandowski, the top scorer in the “Liga” (9), helped to lift his team to the top of the table for the first time since June 2020.
Although Barcelona have not tasted the taste of defeat in the league, the story is different on a continental level, as they went down to Bayern Munich and Inter Milan respectively to drop to third place in the “group of death” with just 3 points. which confronts him with the inevitability of winning Wednesday’s game.
The former Bavarian club’s top scorer led his current Barcelona side to beat Real Mallorca, scoring the only goal of the match on an individual effort, to avoid scoring in the next two games.
“He was not at ease in the second half against Celta, but it was like that for the whole team,” Xavi said of the Pole, adding: “We need to find him more.”
Winger players suffered in the backyard of their Barcelona side, Veran Torres and Brazilian Rafinha lost many chances and failed to communicate with Lewandowski, and the situation was no better with the entry by Ansu Fati and by the French Ousmane Dembele in the second half.
“Maybe they are more concerned about the outcome,” Xavi added. The forwards have to score goals to generate more confidence. “
On the other hand, after playing the first leg with five defenders, Inter are betting on playing the defensive card against the Catalan club, realizing that the draw is in their interest.
The seventh Italian championship, at its “Giuseppe Meazza” stadium, managed to overturn the effectiveness of the pair of midfielders Pedri and Gavi, who struggled to impose his talent, despite easily facing crosses inside the area.
Constant Bayern
On the other hand, the injured Bayern Munich is going at a steady pace locally to book the ticket to qualify for the final price, when he comes as a heavy guest on Czech Viktoria Plzen, who was blown away in the first leg by five clear.
The giants of Bavaria lead with full points and a clean sheet as they crush their opponents with nine goals.
The most important question remains: Julian Nagelsmann can manage the crisis that Bayern is going through locally, returning to the cycle of draws after two great wins over Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 and Plzen, giving up a two-goal lead in the “Classic” against Borussia Dortmund to come out with a 2-2 draw, finds himself in third place, 4 points behind leaders Union Berlin.
Liverpool to heal his local wound
In the first round Napoli are in the lead with full points with the strongest attacking line (13 goals), which began their adventure by beating Liverpool 4-1 before crushing Ajax 6-1 at home.
The southern club owes its attacking efficiency to the dangerous couple Jacomo Rasbadori and the Pyotr Jelinsky from Poland (3 goals each), as well as the brilliant rookie Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Napoli are hoping to recover the efforts of their Nigerian star Victor Osimhen, who only played 40 minutes in this season’s group stage after being injured in the first half of his team’s game against Liverpool.
For their part, Liverpool, second in the group (6 points), try to heal local wounds, occupying the tenth place, with a continental victory, when they host the Glasgow Rangers of Scotland.
The Reds suffer from injuries in their ranks, as they will be deprived of the services of Colombian striker Luis Dias after the World Cup in Qatar, after suffering a knee ligament injury during Sunday’s defeat to Arsenal, in also awaiting the results of the back tests Trent Alexander Arnold, who suffered an ankle injury during the same bout.
Bruges to cross
In the second round, Club Brugge shuffled the cards in the lead with full points, as they could qualify for the final price, if they repeated their victory over Atletico Madrid, bottom in the standings (3).
German Bayer Leverkusen hosts his Portuguese host, Porto, in a crucial match to establish second place, where the door of possibilities is still wide open, level on points with Atletico.
In the fourth, second English club Tottenham (4 points) seeks to return to the winning streak after losing 0-2 to Sporting, Portugal, before falling into the trap of a goalless draw against Eintracht Frankfurt, which hosts it. in the house on this tour.
For their part, Sporting hopes to consolidate their lead (6 points) when they receive in a revenge match the last Marseille club, which obtained their first continental victory this season against the current host in the last round 4 -1, after two defeats in a row against Tottenham 0-2 and Eintracht Frankfurt 0. -1.
