Barcelona plunged into a sea of doubts, faces at the Camp Nou the first final of the season against Inter Milan in the middle of October, a decisive duel in the fight to get a ticket for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
For this final Xavi has opted for an eleven that points to 4-3-3 in defense but that can be converted into a 3-4-3 in attack if necessary.
The eleven of the Barça is the following:
Ter Stegen; Sergi Roberto, Eric Garcia, Gerard Pique, Marcos Alonso, Pedri, Busquets, Gavi; Raphinha, Lewandowski and Dembele
To be part of the round of 16 hype without depending on the results of their rivals, the Barça team would need to win the three remaining games -Inter, Bayern and Viktoria Pilsen- and, in addition, beat the team on goal average 'neroazurro' at the Camp Nou.
Losses in defense continue to be a headache for Xavi Hernández. The injuries to central defenders Jules Koundé, Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araújo, in addition to the injury to right-back Héctor Bellerín, force the coach from Egar to balance himself behind.
Eric Garcia, substitute against Celta, and Piqué are the pair of central defenders chosen. Nor is it ruled out that Marcos Alonso could become the third central defender, if Xavi goes for a 3-4-3 to counteract the two-point system with which the Simone Inzaghi team usually plays and that Sergi Roberto acts as the fourth midfielder.
In the center of the field, the absence of Frenkie de Jong who starts from the bench stands out. There are no changes up front. Xavi bets on his trident with Lewandowski, Raphinha and Dembélé.
The team led by Simone Inzaghi, despite the fact that it seems to have left a bad moment, is not at its best level and a large part of the blame lies with the significant injuries in the squad.
The coach does not recover for the clash neither the Belgian Romelu Lukaku, in the attack, nor the Croatian Marcelo Brozovic, in the center of the field, both indisputable pieces in the scheme and very sensitive casualties that, yes, the Argentine has already more than replaced Joaquín Correa as attacker and the Turkish Hakan Calhanoglu as pivot, scoring the victory goal.
El once del Inter de Milan: Onana; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni, Dimarco; Dumfries, Barella, Çalhanoglu, Mkhitaryan; Lautaro Martínez, Dzeko
However, Correa has not recovered in time from his discomfort in his left knee and upsets the interista plan, which loses speed at the point of attack. Therefore, the Bosnian Edin Dzeko will start with the Argentinian Lautaro Martínez, who hopes to meet again with the goal after more than a month without scoring in an official match.
