Wednesday night brings us the opening games of the group stage of this season’s Champions League and it features this upcoming Matchday 1 clash between Spanish hosts, Barcelona, and their Czech Republic visitors, Plzen, in this important Group C clash at Camp Nou.
Barcelona have made a solid start to their new La Liga campaign as the hosts are unbeaten after the opening four games of the new season, picking up three wins in the process by way of victories over Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid and Sevilla respectively.
A little cross-training pic.twitter.com/i6r44UJRMQ— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 7, 2022
A little cross-training pic.twitter.com/i6r44UJRMQ
Aside from their opening day 0-0 draw at home with Rayo Vallecano, Barcelona have found their goalscoring touch already this season.
The hosts have plundered a total of 11 goals in these subsequent three games and they’ve conceded just once, so they will be in confident mood ahead of this Group C opener.
Barcelona finished last season some 13 points adrift of La Liga title winners, Real Madrid, and this prompted a big-money move for former Bayern Munich striker, Lewandowski, who is more than capable of lifting the home side to not only domestic but also European glory.
Barcelona have no fitness or suspension concerns ahead of this match, but head coach Xavi is likely to take the opportunity to rest a couple of players on Wednesday night.
Plzen have also produced promising form in the early stages of their new season.
The visitors are still unbeaten after the opening six games of the new Czech Liga campaign and picking up five wins in the process, while they’ve also battled through the early qualifying rounds of the Champions League to reach the lucrative group stage.
It’s been a significant improvement this time around for Viktoria Plzen in contrast to previous Champions League campaigns which have produced just two wins from their preceding 16 ties overall, but this season, the visitors still remain unbeaten in the competition.
Five wins out of their six ties to date have seen Plzen pick up wins against HJK 7-1 on aggregate, Sheriff 4-2 on aggregate and a 2-1 win on aggregate against Qarabag in the play-off to decide who progressed through to the group stage.
However, Plzen have won just three of their previous 11 away ties in the Champions League and they look to have their work cut if they’re to get something at Camp Nou.