Reasons to believe in the miracle (or disaster) of Barcelona in Munich

• Xavi "I never believe in the word failure"

• Group E Ranking

The chill of Munich, which splinters the bones, does not seem a good omen for this Barcelona in search of some heat.

Against the totemic Bayern, the undisputed leader of the group,

team is playing

a qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League that had been the norm for the last 21 years.

The time has changed.

To go ahead and avoid the Europa League consolation prize, Barça has more than clear accounts.

He will pass the round if he wins.

If he does not, he will have to wait until Benfica does not win in Lisbon against the already eliminated Dinamo Kiev.

Football is used to traveling on the border that separates heaven from hell.

And here are some reasons for Barça to keep the flame of hope alive.

But also to make sure that this goes beyond a simple feat.

Dembélé

Agree.

The French winger has yet to start this season.

Nor has he scored or assisted.

He has barely played 104 minutes in four spells against Dinamo, Benfica, Villarreal and Betis.

Not much less has renewed, and who knows if there will be someone in the club to convince him.

In four years he has missed 100 games with injury.

But it is the great hope of this post-

Barcelona

, unable to find any imbalance when it passes the three-quarter zone.

A good part of Barça's good fortune in Munich will go through their

ways

on the side.

Door closed

With Germany in the middle of the fourth wave of Covid (68.78% of Germans have the double vaccination schedule) and Munich with a cumulative incidence of 399.2 days after seven, the Bavarian government decided that Bayern-Barça would be played without audience in the stands (2-8 in Da Luz came without an audience).

Who knows if the absence of local fans will lead to an improvement in the performance of the Catalans in their away games.

In the eight games played away from the Camp Nou this season they have only been able to win in two (Kiev and Villarreal), losing at home to Benfica, Atlético and Rayo.

Low

Bayern coach

confirmed the absences of

and

due to injury, and of

and

, who have just passed the coronavirus.

Nor is the ownership of

, with annoyances and that he is threatened with sanction.

Without Kimmich or Goretzka, the Bavarian team loses much of its creativity and strength in a midfield that

, who has only played 23 minutes this season,

could be a part of

.

Those who will play at the beginning are

and Lewandowski.

Alpha and Omega.

The economy

If Xavi Hernández wants the board to give him reinforcements in the winter market, and given the prospect of having to continue supporting

and

chips

, continuing in the Champions League is presumed essential.

If the team does not reach the quarter-finals of the competition, a common minimum target in the club's budgets, Barcelona will stop earning 20.1 million euros.

The curse of Benfica

Perhaps

continue to wonder

about that empty goal that

missed

at the end of his game at the Camp Nou (0-0).

Or if the curse of

will remain in force

, the Hungarian coach who led Benfica to conquer Europe twice (1961 and 1962) before being fired and predicting continental nothingness for Lisbon.

Evil eyes aside, Benfica are showing a worrying irregularity in the Portuguese league.

He comes from falling at home against Sporting (1-3) and is third in the championship, behind his Lisbon rival and the leader, Porto.

The only point that Dinamo de Lucescu has scored in this Champions League group stage was precisely against Benfica in Kiev (0-0).

Jorge Jesus' job stability is also in question.

The history

Barcelona have never won in Munich. In his five visits he has only been able to start two draws. On April 2, 1996, in the first leg of the UEFA semifinals and still with

as coach, he drew at two thanks to goals from

and

.

It was the day that Pep Guardiola played central.

The Catalans would end up spoiling the classification by falling in the second leg (1-2).

On April 14, 2009, and after beating Bayern at the Camp Nou in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals (4-0), the Catalans equalized (1-1) in the return leg process.

Barça's overall statistics against Bayern are hopeless (eight defeats, two draws and two victories in 12 games, with 16 goals for and 29 against).

The latest precedents are the 0-3 at the Camp Nou in this group stage, and the historic fall in the quarterfinals of the Champions League in Da Luz (2-8).

Lewandowski

In the last classic that Bayern played in Dortmund, the Signal Iduna Park fans tried to make the Polish striker uncomfortable by reminding him that the Ballon d'Or had been for Messi.

answered

with two new goals.

At 33 years old, he does not slow down.

He has already accumulated 27 goals in 21 games this season.

Nine of them in the Champions League after having scored in the five games of this group stage.

If he sees the door against Barça again, he will equal

record

, which he also made full in the 2017-18 campaign.

Memphis

Who should be the Barcelona franchise footballer after the departures of Messi and

last summer represents the other side of the coin.

He has yet to score a single goal in this Champions League.

And although he continues to be Barça's top scorer this season (nine goals, three of them from penalties), it is also true that he has missed the goal in 12 of the 20 games played.

absence due to injury

,

heart disease

and low confidence in

force Xavi to perpetuate his confidence in

as the only offensive reference.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Barcelona

• Leo Messi

• Xavi Hernandez

• Ansu Fati

• Kun Aguero

• Coutinho

• sports

• Champions League

• FC Barcelona

Champions LeagueXavi: "I never believe in the word failure"

ChampionsXavi: "We are Barça and we will go to Munich to win"

Champions Barcelona is dry in Europe

See links of interest

• Last News

• Translator

• What

• Holidays 2021

• 2022 business calendar

• Home THE WORLD today

• Master investigative journalism

• Paris Saint-Germain - Bruges, live

• RB Leipzig - Manchester City

• Ajax - Sporting CP

• Borussia Dortmund - Besiktas

• FC Porto - Atlético de Madrid