PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Brest
It's time for game five in the new look Champions League opening stage, and Barça will be eager to notch up a win after two disappointing results in domestic league, a defeat at Real Sociedad and then a draw at Celta despite leading by two goals with just six minutes to go.
The Tuesday 9pm CET kick-off is an interesting one. It's the first time Barça have ever played Stade Brestois 29, better known simply as Brest, and it's also the first time the Brittany-based club have ever played in one of UEFA's continental competitions. After stunning Ligue 1 with their third place finish last season, they are now stunning Europe, having won three and drawn one of their games played so far, placing them an impressive fourth in the 36-team table. That's in stark contrast to their league form, where they have just lost three games in a row, the most recent being a 3-2 loss at Monaco on Friday.
Barça, meanwhile, and despite the two recent setbacks, are still well clear the the top of La Liga. And things are looking pretty sweet in Europe too. After losing to Monaco on the opening day, they have seen off Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Red Star Belgrade to move up to sixth. A win in this game would leave Barça on 12 points, which should already be enough to ensure they progress in the competition, and would also leave them in fine shape for a top eight finish, which means they'd get to skip past a potentially difficult play-in round.
Team news
Hansi Flick has dismissed any illusions that Lamine Yamal will be back for this one, but did suggest in his pre-match conference that he could feature against Las Palmas at the weekend. He also explained that Alejandro Balde has picked up a minor issue and is not an option against Brest either. Both Eric Garcia and Ferran Torres are back training normally, but at the time of writing neither has been declared fully fit.
Ronald Araujo, Ansu Fati, Andreas Christensen, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Marc Bernal are all remain unavailable.
Brest boss Eric Roy has problems of his own to think about. With Bradley Locko out long-term, Pierre Lees-Melou, Massadio Haidara, Romain Faivre, Soumaila Coulibaly and Abdallah Sima are all major doubts. The latter would be an especially painful loss for the Pirates. The Senegalese forward is their top scorer in the competition with three goals.
Did you know?
Brest are looking to become the first French team to go unbeaten in their first five games of a Champions League campaign since Bordeaux way back in 1999.
With 8 goals and 3 assists, Raphinha needs just one more of either to set an all-time record for goals contributions by a Brazilian in a calendar year of Champions League football. He's currently tied on 11 with Neymar (2015 & 2017), Giovane Élber (2001) and Rivaldo (2000).
Barça like to score late in the first half or early in the second. Their five goals in the 15 minutes of the first and four in the first 15 of the second are both Champions League highs. Curiously, however, in both time slots combined, Brest have only leaked one goal, to Sturm Graz.
Only two player have ever reached 100 goals in the Champions League, and there no prizes for guessing who they are. Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. But Robert Lewandowski is on 99 and needs just one more to join those two legends. What's more, while Messi needed 129 games to reach three figures and Ronaldo 140, Barça's Polish striker could reach 100 quicker than either of them. He's played 124 games in the competition so far.
What they're saying
Hansi Flick: "Brest have good players and they are doing really well. They will be worthy opponents and we have to focus on winning. If will be important to control possession and come up with the final product in attack. Our aim at the moment is the three points from tomorrow's game. After that, we will see." FULL STORY
Iñigo Martinez: "Brest are doing a very. very good job. If we relax, we'll pay very dearly. They will be tough opponents because it's not by chance that they haven't lost a game yet. They are very good on the counter, are physically strong and this will be a good game to try to put the recent setbacks behind us." FULL STORY