Barcelona – Young Boys: probable line-ups, J2 Champions League

Barcelona, ​​who have won just five of their last 17 European games at home, host Young Boys, who are forced to bounce back from their defeat in Monaco.

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BARCELONA — Barcelona get it this Tuesday Young Boys V Second round of the Champions League. in Montjuic, with the need to regain the ground lost after the debut knockout in Monaco, and with the hope of becoming the protagonist of a tournament that too many years ago became cursed.

Hansi Flick warned in advance of his intention not to reserve parts and not to go out with everything, forgetting about tests and rotations, despite the theoretical weakness Young Boyswho have won only one of the eight games they have played in the Swiss Super League and go into the match weighed down by the 0-3 scoreline they were given by Aston Villa on the opening day of the championship. Champions.

REPEATED APPEARANCES AND ABSENCES
At Barca, Flick returns Frenkie de Jong five months after suffering an ankle injury at the Bernabeu, but he will be without the suspended Eric Garcia, sent off in Monaco, and still missing the injured Fermin Lopez. Gavi, Dani Olmo, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

For his part, Patrick Rahmen, whose tenure at the helm of Young Boys is beginning to be questioned, is without the injured Saidi Janko, Loris Benito, Facine Conte and Patrick Pfeiffer.

RECORD
This will be the Swiss club’s sixth visit to Spain, where they have won just one match and lost the remaining four in continental competition. Their first match came in the first round of the old European Cup in 1986, and they were beaten by Real Madrid’s Quinta del Buitre 5-0, with a brace from Butragueño and a goal from Hugo Sanchez (the Aztec’s first in the tournament). competition).

Young Boys didn’t return to Spain until 2009, beating Athletic 0-1 in San Mamés in a Europa League preview and then adding three more defeats: 1-0 to Getafe in 2010, also in the Europa League and 3 -1 and 2-0 against Valencia (2018) and Villarreal (2021) in the group stage of the Champions League.

This will be Barça’s fifth home game against a Swiss team in continental competitions. The first time was in 1959 against a team from Basel in the old Fairs Cup, which ended 5-2. They beat Zurich 1-0 in the same competition in 1967 and Lugano 3-0 in 1968 in the also defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup. The last Swiss opponent to visit was FC Basel in the group stage of the 2008–09 season, and they started with a 1–1 draw that was nothing short of dramatic this time around.

ALARMING STATISTICS
And it is clear that Hansi Flick approaches the match with Young Boys with extreme caution and concern, taking into account not only his current classification in the tournament after an unsuccessful debut, but, even more so, the record that Barça has in Europe.

And Barça have struggled to win five of their last 17 European matches at home, with a devastating record of five wins, six draws and six defeats. In fact, since the pandemic (which marked Barca’s worst historical result in Europe when they were thrashed 8-2 by Hansi Flick’s Bayern Munich in Lisbon) in 2019-20, Barca’s performance on the continent has been one of unprecedented mediocrity.

Since the 2020/21 season, Barcelona have played 39 matches in European competition and won only 17 of them (43.6 percent), drew 10 and lost the remaining 12.

Possible lineups for the match Barcelona – Young Boys

FC BARCELONA: Iñaki Peña, Jules Kounde, Pau Kubarsi, Iñigo Martinez, Alejandro Balde, Mark Casado, Pedri, Rafinha, Ferran Torres, Lamin Yamal and Robert Lewandowski.

BSC YOUNG BOYS: Van Ballmos, Atekame, Zukru, Camara, Hadjam, Niasse, Lauper, Colley, Ugrinik, Monteiro and Gunvoula.

JUDGE: Eric Lambrechts (Belgium)

STADIUM: Montjuic

HOUR: 3:00 pm Eastern Time / 12:00 pm Pacific Time / 1:00 pm Mexican Time