Royal Antwerp vs Barcelona: Champions League Match Preview, Team News, Lineups and Prediction
Barcelona will travel to Belgium to play their final match of the Champions League group stage against Royal Antwerp.
A win or a draw would be enough for the Catalan giants to secure the top spot in Group H. However, Antwerp are playing for their pride after failing to pick up a single point across their five matches.
Match Preview
Royal Antwerp’s Champions League campaign has been a wholly forgettable experience, as they have fallen to Barcelona, Porto and Shakhtar’s superiority in this competition.
Furthermore, even a spot in the Europa League is also not possible for them at the moment, as they have lost all five matches.
The Jupiler Pro League outfit will enter in this game as the only team in this season’s Champions League without a single point next to their name.
Celtic, Red Star Belgrade and Benfica have all managed to achieve atleast one apiece. Moreover, Antwerp have also conceded 15 goals throughout this campaign.
Despite their 1-0 loss to Shakhtar on matchday 4, Barcelona have won their four games to qualify for the Champions League round of 16 for the first time in two years.
However, this weekend they suffered an unexpected 4-2 defeat from La Liga leaders Girona, as they have now opened up a 7-point lead over Barca.
The La Liga champions boast 3-point advantages over both Porto and Shakhtar, who will face each other in an important encounter this week.
Royal Antwerp team news
Arbnor Muja picked up yellow cards in the dying moments of his side’s loss to Shakhtar on matchday five. Jurgen Ekkelenkamp is serving his ban from his red card on matchday four.
Antwerp’s wingers Anthony Valencia and Jacob Ondrejka are both recovering from fractures, while defenders Bjorn Engels and Jelle Bataille are absent as well.
Chidera Ejuke was one of Antwerp’s three scorers in the success over Brugge and could now be rewarded with a starting role over Muja.
Barcelona team news
Gavi (knee), Inigo Martinez (hamstring), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (back problem) and Marcos Alonso (back problem) will miss the game against Antwerp.
Araujo, Gundogan, and Lewandowski were not included in the squad list at first. However, Xavi decided to include them after Barcelona decided to spend the night in Belgium.
Xavi will rotate the squad to give opportunities to other players, which will also help in giving rest to some of the key players.
Royal Antwerp vs Barcelona: Predicted line-ups
Royal Antwerp (4-2-3-1): Butez; De Laet, Alderweireld, Coulibaly, Wijndal; Yusuf, Vermeeren; Kerk, Balikwisha, Ejuke; Janssen
Barcelona (4-3-3): Pena; Cancelo, Kounde, Christensen, Balde; Lopez, Romeu, Roberto; Yamal, Felix, Torres
Prediction
Royal Antwerp 1-2 Barcelona
Heavy rotation is expected from Xavi’s side as after already securing their place in the round of 16. But despite that a win for the La Liga champions is on the cards this midweek.
Antwerp plays at home and will have an advantage. If they do beat Barcelona at home, that would be a big achievement for them considering how bad they have been in this competition.
