The highlight of Matchday 3 of the 2024/25 Champions League stage comes to Catalonia on Wednesday night as Barcelona host Bayern Munich.
There are a lot of good feelings about this Blaugrana team ahead of Wednesday’s match, but the duels with Bayern have brought out the worst in the current Blaugrana. The Bavarian giants have won their last six head-to-head meetings, a run which includes the notorious 8-2 thrashing at Camp Nou in 2020.
Bayern have won the last four games by a total of 11-0.
However, former Bayern coach Hansi Flick has Barça firing on all cylinders. The German has rejected the dysfunction of Xavi’s last year and has turned the Catalan giants into genuine contenders again with La Masia as the backbone of their first successes this season.
Barça beat Young Boys on the second day after lose in Monaco to start the league stage, while Bayern aim to recover from their beat Aston Villa last time out. Both teams secured impressive domestic wins at the weekend by four goals and lead their respective leagues.
here it is 90 minutes Barcelona vs Bayern Munich guide to the Champions League on wednesday
Barcelona vs Bayern Munich head-to-head record (last five games)
Current form (all competitions)
|
Barcelona |
Bayern Munich |
|---|---|
|
Barcelona 5-1 Sevilla – 20/10/24 |
Bayern Munich – Stuttgart 4-0 – 19/10/24 |
|
Alaus 0-3 Barcelona – 06/10/24 |
Eintracht Frankfurt 3-3 Bayern Munich – 06/10/24 |
|
Barcelona 5-0 Young Boys – 01/10/24 |
Aston Villa 1-0 Bayern Munich – 02/10/24 |
|
Osasuna 4-2 Barcelona – 28/09/24 |
Bayern Munich – Bayer Leverkusen 1-1 – 28/09/24 |
|
Barcelona 1-0 Getafe – 25/09/24 |
Werder Bremen – Bayern Munich 0-5 – 21/09/24 |
|
country |
TV channel/live broadcast |
|---|---|
|
united kingdom |
discovery+, discovery+ app, TNT Sports 4, TNT Sports 5 |
|
united states |
Paramount+, fuboTV, TUDN.com, Univision NOW, TUDN App, ViX, TUDN USA, UniMas |
|
canada |
DAZN |
Gavi returned from a knee injury on Sundaybut Flick is unlikely to return the young midfielder to his starting XI for such a high-profile game. The same goes for Frenkie de Jong and Dani Olmo, but there could be a start for FermÃn López, who appeared off the bench against Sevilla.
Inaki Pena will be favored ahead of Wojciech Szczesny between the posts in the absence of Marc-Andre ter Stegen, while Pau Cubarsi will continue alongside the excellent Inigo Martinez at centre-back. Barça are currently without Ronaldo Araujo, Eric Garcia and Andreas Christensen through injury.
Marc Bernal is a long-term absentee who tore his ACL before the start of the season. Ferran Torres will also miss out again with a hamstring injury.
Predicted line-up of Barcelona against Bayern Munich (4-2-3-1): Punishment; Kounde, Cubarsi, MartÃnez, Balde; Married, Peter; Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha; Lewandowski.
Bayern suffered a blow at the weekend as emerging midfielder Aleksandar Pavlovic was revealed to have broken his collarbone in the win over Stuttgart and will spend weeks on the sidelines as a result.
Joao Palhinha will join Joshua Kimmich in Vincent Kompany’s pivot on Wednesday.
The visitors are also without Sacha Boey, Josip Stanicic and Hiroki Ito. Jamal Musiala should return to the matchday squad, but he may not be fit enough to start in Catalonia, which could open the door for veteran Thomas Muller.
Predicted lineup of Bayern Munich against Barcelona (4-2-3-1): new; Guerreiro, Upamecano, Kim, Davies; Kimmich, Palhinha; Olise, Muller, Gnabry; Kane.
It’s been a mismatch recently when these two teams have met, but Wednesday’s game should be extremely competitive. Flick has made this Barcelona team purr, with his own 5-1 thrashing of Sevilla on Sunday providing further evidence of his current arrogance.
Their cohesion in all phases will test a Bayern side that has also shown plenty of promise at the start of Kompany’s tutelage. They will also benefit from the tamer atmosphere at Montjuïc compared to Villa Park a few weeks ago.
It’s a tough game to predict, but the effect both managers have had on their respective sides should be evident. The battle for control will be fought throughout, with Barça pressing against Bayern’s formation, a subplot worth keeping a close eye on.
Given the return of key players and the desperation they will be to exorcise the demons of their previous encounters with Bayern, Barca could have an exciting game on Wednesday night.
