The Champions League group stage continues on Wednesday night and we have a mouth-watering game to look forward to at the Camp Nou. Barcelona welcome Inter Milan to Catalonia as both teams aim to cement their place at the top of Group B.
With both teams starting the night on 6 points, they know a win would be a massive step towards qualifying for the knockout rounds of the competition.
Barcelona come into this match on the back of a 4-2 win at home over Sevilla in La Liga. The win was good enough to send them top of the table but it came at a huge cost as Lionel Messi injured his arm and will be out for this game.
Barcelona start this match as group leaders having won their two Champions League games this season. The Spanish champions got off to the perfect start with a comfortable 4-0 win over PSV Eindhoven at home, Messi scoring a hat-trick.
What followed was a good win at Tottenham Hotspur, scoring 4 goals at Wembley to win the match 4-2 and sit top of the group.
Barcelona have a tremendous home record and you must go back sixty-two games to find the last time they lost a La Liga, Champions League or Copa del Rey game on home soil. In the Champions League, Barcelona have won twenty-four of their last twenty-six home matches, with the other two games ending in a draw.
The Blaugrana have scored 3 or more goals in nine of their previous eleven home Champions League games.
Inter Milan travel to Spain on a high having secured a late win in the Milan derby on Sunday night. The 1-0 victory leaves Inter Milan sitting third in Serie A, just 2 points behind second place Napoli. The win over Milan means Inter Milan have now won their last seven matches in all competitions.
The first victory in that sequence of seven was the late 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League at the San Siro. Inter Milan’s second match in the Champions League was away at PSV Eindhoven and they came from behind to win once again with goals from Radja Nainggolan and Mauro Icardi.
Trends show Inter Milan have won their last four away matches in all competitions but have failed to keep a clean sheet in the last two.
Team news and as highlighted above, Barcelona will be without Lionel Messi, which is a massive loss. Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele are expected to start alongside Luis Suarez in attack. Samuel Umtiti and Thomas Vermaelen are injured.
Inter Milan are without Dalbert, Roberto Gagliardini and Joao Mario who are not eligible for the competition. Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic are doubtful while Radja Nainggolan will miss out with an ankle injury.
Both teams are missing important players, with Messi being the main absentee from this game. However, Barcelona have a fantastic home record and even if this game proves to be tough, they should come through to take maximum points.