Barcelona face Bayer Leverkusen at the Camp Nou in Group E of the Champions League on Tuesday evening, with the home side hoping to clinch their first victory of this year's competition after opening with a draw. The visitors have secured a comfortable win against BATE Borisov in the opening match. Barcelona have beaten Bayer Leverkusen in their last five direct meetings. The last trip at Camp Nou was a disastrous one for the Germans, Barcelona won 7-1 on that occasion, in March 2012. In that match Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a Champions League game.
Luis Enrique's men earned a draw away at Roma at the end of a difficult match, with Alessandro Florenzi scoring a great goal to level things up after Luis Suarez had put Barca in front. Last weekend Barcelona beat Las Palmas 2-1 in the Primera Liga but lost Lionel Messi to injury. The Argentinian star could be out for two months due to a torn ligament in his left knee. So far Barcelona have earned five wins from six games this season. They have won all last five matches against Leverkusen in the Champions League, scoring 16 goals. Andres Iniesta and Dani Alves should return to the starting eleven after being rested last weekend, while Messi, Claudio Bravo and Rafinha will all be out injured.
Leverkusen grabbed a 4-1 win over BATE Borisov in the opening match and are coming to Camp Nou after two consecutive wins in the Bundesliga. They are currently fifth in their domestic league table, mostly thanks to their defence which let in just one goal per game on average this season. Tin Jedvaj, Charles Aranguiz and Omer Toprak are all injured for the visitors while Hakan Calhanoglu and Kevin Kampl should feature in midfield after being on the bench for the last Bundesliga match.
Probable line-ups:
Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Adriano, Mascherano, Pique, Alves - Iniesta, Busquets, Rakitic - Neymar, Suarez, Munir
Leverkusen: Leno - Wendell, Papadopoulos, Tah, Donati - Kramer, Bender - Kampl, Calhanoglu, Bellarabi - Kiessling
My prediction: Barcelona to win 3-1.
Here are the odds for the match at Bet365:
Barcelona win - 1.40 Draw - 5.00 Leverkusen win - 9.00
Alexa Alexa 8 years ago
Barcelona showed that they are not one man-team.It is always hard to have conceded goal and chace equaliser for all match,but they believed in themselves and they won in the end.Luis Enrique must change something,Barca is nowhere near of last seasons form.
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sharpe
8 years ago
I was expecting an easier game for Barcelona but after Leverkusen took the lead in the first half the game was not a walk in the park for them. Leverkusen not playing at the expected level in the Bundesliga but they was close to take something from that one. Still a Barca win in the end but they didn't show so good form...
I was expecting an easier game for Barcelona but after Leverkusen took the lead in the first half the game was not a walk in the park for them. Leverkusen not playing at the expected level in the Bundesliga but they was close to take something from that one. Still a Barca win in the end but they didn't show so good form lately.
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rikimartin4444_115925
8 years ago
Barcelona will be playing without Messi and that is key fact for tonight game. He is the best player in the world and Luis Enrique needs to find solution for that problem. On the other side, Leverkusen have great squad and they will try to pressure Barcelona high. I think that they are able to score at least one goal. My...
Barcelona will be playing without Messi and that is key fact for tonight game. He is the best player in the world and Luis Enrique needs to find solution for that problem. On the other side, Leverkusen have great squad and they will try to pressure Barcelona high. I think that they are able to score at least one goal. My prediction 1-1 draw.
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