Barcelona is almost a certain participant in the second round of the Champions League, while Ajax is in a fierce fight with Milan and Celtic for the second place in the group. Only two points are needed to Barcelona to ensure first place and motivation of Catalans for the current meeting is in question.
Barcelona will be without the suspended Alexis Sanchez and Messi injured, which will undoubtedly influence the attack. However, Fabregas and Neymar can seriously harass the defense of Ajax, which conceded 4 goals at Camp Nou in last match between the two teams. Three of those hits, however, were scored by Messi.
It is very important for Ajax to win at least one point of this game as this will leave the team in the battle for second place. The goal of the Dutch is definitely quite difficult to achieve, but not impossible. Catalans show very different performances as a guest in the Champions League. Statistics show that in their last 5 away games in the Champions League, Barcelona had only one extremely difficult win (0:1) against Celtic playing with 10 men.
Prediction and complete statistics for Ajax - Barcelona.