Barcelona Vs Inter Milan Preview: The Heavy Struggle Of The Blaugrana Spirits Hope

Camp Nou Stadium home Barcelona (Instagram @fcbarcelona)

JAKARTA Barcelona had to struggle to revive hope of qualifying for the last 16 of the 2022/2023 European Champions as they prepared to play the fourth group stage match against Inter Milan at Camp Nou, Thursday morning.

The Blaugrana currently still occupy third place in Group C standings with a collection of only three points from three matches. They are three points adrift of Inter who are in second place and six points from Bayern Munich at the top.

For this reason, the host is required to be able to bring home the maximum number from the match against Inter. If they lose, they are threatened not to qualify for the knockout round for two consecutive seasons.

"It's a shame we're in such a bad situation. We have no choice but to win," Xavi told a news conference ahead of Wednesday's match against Inter.

Barcelona opened their campaign in this competition with perfect results against Viktoria Plzen in the first match. They managed to earn three points after silencing the Czech representative with a score of 5-1.

However, they had to get two consecutive defeats after that. The first defeat they received while visiting Bayern headquarters, following the next suffering while playing to Inter headquarters last week.

Last season they were thrown into the Europa League after finishing in third place in the group phase. Now they face the same possibility if they fail to get points while playing in front of their own supporters.

"It's going to be a big disappointment but we're going to stay positive. It's an uncomfortable situation, we're in trouble. We have a final [against Inter] to try to fix this situation," Xavi said.

If they fail to win against Inter, Barcelona's fate will definitely be in the mouth of the ravine. The reason is, they will face Bayern in the next match before meeting Plzen in the last match.

Despite poor performances in European competitions, the Catalan team was actually fierce on the La Liga stage in Spain. They were on track for seven consecutive wins after beating Celta Vigo last weekend.

The win saw them climb to the top of the standings with a collection of 22 points. Real Madrid has the same number of points following them in second place.

On the other hand, Inter entered last week's match against Barcelona with a capital of two consecutive losses. However, now their performance has improved again with their latest success win over Sassuolo.

The Italian giant successfully passed the group stage last season, but Liverpool stopped it from failing to reach the quarter-finals. The Nerazzurri have not yet passed the knockout round since reaching the top eight in 2010/2011.

Estimated Formation

Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Eric Garcia, Alonso; Gavi, Busquets, Pedri; Dembele, Lewandowski, Fati. Coach: Xavi Hernandez.

Inter Milan (3-5-2): Onana; Skriniar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Lautaro Martinez, Dzeko. Coach: Simone Inzaghi.