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For the first time in many years, Barcelona will begin their UEFA Champions League campaign not as the favourites but as the underdogs.
The last time the Blaugrana were crowned European Champions was in 2015, and a lot has changed at the club since then. They no longer have Lionel Messi, while Josep Maria Bartomeu has also since been axed as President.
This is a new Barcelona team headed by Ronald Koeman. And while the Dutch manager guided them to Copa del Rey victory last season, there is still the sense that Barcelona are far from Europe’s elite teams.
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The Spanish giants will kickstart their Champions League campaign against Bayern Munich on Tuesday – a game that has a lot of recent history, especially for Barcelona.
Barcelona aim to banish past nightmares
The Blaugrana have suffered some damaging defeats in the Champions League in recent years, and they continue to be haunted by the ghosts of the past. Barcelona fans have had to witness their side getting battered and booted out of the competition by AS Roma, Liverpool and PSG in recent years.
Tuesday’s opponents also caused a lot of pain to the Spanish side in August 2020, thrashing Barcelona 8-2 in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
As Koeman’s side prepares to host the Bavarians once again, the aim will be to banish their past nightmares. The irony, though, is that Bayern Munich are huge favourites, and boast a better squad. So it remains to be seen how Barcelona fare on the night.
A game that will test how far Barcelona have come
The last time Barcelona clashed with Bayern Munich, Quique Setien was their manager, while Lionel Messi was the talismanic figure in the team.
This time, though, Memphis Depay is the club’s go-to man, having made a sensational start to the season. The Blaugrana have come a long way, but Tuesday’s game against Bayern will show how far they’ve come.
"Tomorrow we have the first Champions League game, and we are changing things. Chelsea won last year, and were not among the two or three favourites. We know that Bayern are a great team, with individual quality and experienced people,” Koeman said ahead of the game, as quoted by Sports Max.
"We want to compete in the Champions League, and we play at home. We will try to get a good result to start the Champions League. It's been more than a year, and several players suffered a lot in that game (the 8-2 loss). We have a unique opportunity. We can hurt Bayern, and we have a good team. We have to look for our style to hurt the opposition."
Barcelona are clearly the underdogs, but they still have enough attacking quality to trouble any side. Whether they’ll be able to banish the nightmares from that humbling 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich, though, is a question the Blaugrana will have to answer on the pitch.
