Barcelona head into Tuesday night’s Champions League Group B match at San Siro on the cusps of qualification to the round of 16. Standing in their way are Inter Milan, who Barcelona defeated on matchday 3 by a 2-0 scoreline.
Barcelona eased past the Italians at Camp Nou without Lionel Messi in the lineup. Now, the Catalans will hope to do the same once more.
Inter are just three points behind Barcelona in Group B. Barring any extreme loss of form, the Milan club should gain passage into the next round. Inter are coming off of a 5-0 beat down of Serie A rivals Genoa at the weekend.
Inter have now won six straight matches in Serie A while scoring 21 goals in the competition. Goals in the Champions league haven’t been so forthcoming as the Nerazzurri have tallied just four. The good news is the team has allowed just four strikes with at least one coming in each fixture in the tournament.
Barcelona picked up their third straight La Liga win at the weekend. The team has rediscovered its form following a dip in October. The Catalan club nearly missed out on a win against Rayo Vallecano, however. Barcelona needed an 87th minute equaliser from Ousmane Dembele and a 90th minute winner from Luis Saurez.
Barcelona are not the juggernaut they have been in the past and results in La Liga are proof of that. While Barcelona have had little trouble in the Champions league thus far, they may find going deep into the knockout rounds to be difficult.
Lionel Messi is expected to return to action on Tuesday night. The forward had been sidelined with an elbow injury, but will return ahead of schedule. Despite Luis Suarez gaining form with the Argentine out, Messi is ready to take his place in Barcelona’s starting XI. The only problem with his return is Barcelona will once again be reliant on Messi to create and score goals.
Barcelona have shown a lack of Messi-dependency with him out injured, which is the opposite with him in the team. They defeated Sevilla, Real Madrid, and Rayo Vallecano without him, but questions remain whether the team can be as free-flowing with the forward back. Suarez and Messi have scored 54 percent of all Barcelona goals since Neymar left in 2017.
Inter will have combative midfielder Radja Nainggolan back from injury. The Belgian featured against Genoa at the weekend and will be ready to take his place in Inter’s side.
Barcelona have already beaten Inter without Messi and they will have extra firepower with the forward back in the team. Barcelona will get past Inter, but matchday 4 should see a closer scoreline at San Siro than their previous meeting.