The Champions League is back, and FC Barcelona will be looking to get back on course in the competition after a disappointing group stage exit last season.
The route to the knockout stage is considerably easier this year, at least on paper. Last season Barca had to navigate a group that included Inter Milan and Bayern Munich, alongside Czech outfit FC Viktoria Plzeň. With just 2 wins from the 6 group games, Barca made a swift exit to the Europa League where they were knocked out by Manchester United.
Barcelona will be facing off against Portuguese side Porto, Ukrainian team Shakhtar Donetsk and tomorrow’s opponent, Royal Antwerp from Belgian. They’ll likely be paying particular interest in midfielder Arthur Vermeeren, who has recently been linked with a move to Spain.
Both sides are coming off impressive outings with Barcelona thrashing Real Betis 5-0 on Saturday and Antwerp recording a comfortable 3-0 win over Westerlo in Belgium’s top flight on Friday.
Barcelona vs. Royal Antwerp: Game Preview
Barcelona are overwhelming favourites to both win the game tomorrow and top Group H and after drawing 0-0 with Getafe to start the season, they’ve shown their quality with 4 straight victories.
Royal Antwerp have had an up-and-down start to their domestic season, winning 3, drawing 2 and losing 1 game so far. They’re also set to appear in the Champions League for the first time in their history, so I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to the occasion, even though they’ll be playing at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys instead of Camp Nou tomorrow, with Barcelona’s home stadium currently undergoing a significant facelift.
Antwerp had to overcome AEK Athens in the Champions League playoff round to reach the group stages, so they’ve already played a lot of football this season and you can bet that former Barcelona midfielder and current Antwerp manager Mark van Bommel will have them ready to play.
Barcelona vs. Royal Antwerp: Team News
Pedri is still missing for Barcelona, but Ronal Araujo has returned to team training and may be fit enough to grab a place on the bench.
Ilkay Gundogan came through the weekend’s game against Betis unscathed after coming on as a sub, so he’s likely to be reintroduced into midfield, and it’ll be interesting to see who drops to the bench.
It’ll be interesting to see if Xavi sticks with the 4-3-3 attacking formation that served him well at the weekend, but that does pose some significant selection questions. If Gundogan comes back in does that mean Gavi drops out? Romeu? Or does Gavi move to the left with Felix dropping out? I’m not sure you can drop Felix after his performance on Saturday.
Antwerp has a few injury concerns ahead of the game with the Belgian side expecting to be without Davino Verhulst, Bjorn Engels, Ortwin De Wolf, Kobe Corbanie and Sam Vines.
The biggest threat for Barcelona will be Vincent Janssen, who’s already scored 6 goals in 8 appearances this year and is coming off a 2022 season where he bagged 21 goals in 46 appearances as Antwerp won their first domestic league title since the late 50s.
Barcelona vs. Royal Antwerp: Prediction
I watched Antwerp’s victory over AEK and thought they were a very exciting unit, especially in the final third. But how well will they do when they have to sit back and defend for the majority of the match. Barcelona should dominate possession throughout, if they grab an early breakthrough then I’m going for a 4-0 win, if that breakthrough takes some time I’ll go for a 2-0 win.