PREVIEW: Ferencváros v FC Barcelona
Barça head to Hungary safe in the knowledge that their path to the next stage of the Champions League is already assured. Ronald Koeman has therefore decided to rest a few first-team players ahead of the important LaLiga fixture at the weekend.
TV Times
You can find a full schedule for where and when to watch the match here or you can follow minute by minute coverage at the Match Center here.
Did you know?
Ferencváros are winless in their last six meetings with Spanish clubs in all competitions (D4 L2); however, the Hungarian side have never lost at home to a Spanish team in any European competition (P7 W5 D2 L0).
FC Barcelona have won all of their previous five competitive meetings with Hungarian sides, including a 5-1 win at home to Ferencváros in this season’s Champions League.
FC Barcelona are looking to win each of their first five UEFA Champions League group stage games for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign, when they won all six in the first round group stages.
Since winning their first ever UEFA Champions League match 3-0 against Grasshopper Club Zurich in September 1995, Ferencváros are winless in each of their last nine games in the competition (D3 L6).
Ferencvaros’ five home UEFA Champions League matches have seen 23 goals scored (8 for, 15 against) at an average of 4.6 per game, the most of any team to play at least five home games in the competition.
Lionel Messi’s absence from their 0-4 win over Dynamo Kiev was only the fourth of FC Barcelona’s last 43 games in the Champions League where he hadn’t featured. In his absence, Barça have won eight of their last nine Champions League games since losing 2-1 to Ajax in November 2013.
Current Form
Since the last time the two teams met, Ferencváros have had mixed fortunes domestically and in Europe.
Two losses to Juventus and a draw against Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League compare with five wins out of six in the Hungarian League, all of which were won to nil. The other league game was a 1-1 draw.
Barça have also had a mixed bag of results in the same time frame, losing to both Atlético and Real Madrid in the league as well as drawing with Alavés.
However, two wins over Dynamo Kyiv and another against Juventus saw the Blaugranes qualify for the next stage with ease. Two big league wins against Real Betis and Osasuna show that Ronald Koeman’s men are on the right track.
Record v Hungarian opposition
In total, taking into account friendlies and competitive matches, Barça have played against Hungarian opposition on no less than 23 occasions. The last one of those before this season was the 1991 Trofeo Ciudad de le Línea against Honved, a match in which Barça triumphed 1-0.
The Catalans have played Ferencváros on six previous occasions before this season and the balance of results is as follows:
1923 Friendlies in Barcelona
Barça 2-0 Ferencváros
Barça 2-0 Ferencváros
1923 Friendlies in Barcelona
Barça 4-0 Ferencváros
Barça 3-2 Ferencváros
1972 Friendly in Barcelona
Barça 2-2 Ferencváros
1977 Trofeo Ibérico Final in Badajoz
Barça 3-0 Ferencváros
The Squad
Marc-André ter Stegen, Lionel Messi and Philippe Coutinho have all been rested for this trip, whilst Gerard Piqué, Ronald Araujo, Sergi Roberto, Ansu Fati and Samuel Umtiti are all out injured.
The complete squad is therefore as follows: Dest, Sergio, Aleñá, Griezmann, Pjanic, Braithwaite, Dembélé, Riqui Puig, Neto, Lenglet, Pedri, Trincão, Jordi Alba, Matheus, De Jong, Junior, Iñaki Peña, Mingueza, Konrad and Arnau Tenas.
Koeman said
“The most important thing was to qualify. But at Barça we always want to win and play well. We want to top the group.”
“I expect a difficult game. Ferencváros have good players up front and we will have to keep their offensive play in check.”