FC Barcelona is in trouble as far as the Uefa Champions league goes… déjà vu, eh? Just like last year when they crashed out of the Uefa premier competition after failing to beat Benfica both home and away. This year’s campaign doesn’t seem much different as the Blaugranas lost to both Bayern Munich and Inter Milan and have only 3 points from 3 games.
Barcelona has suffered a painful albeit narrow defeat on Match-Day three of the Champions League against Inter Milan on Tuesday. However, Barca still has its fate in its own hands to get out of the group if the Spanish side is able to overcome the mighty Bayern and tenacious Inter at Camp Nou.
Easier said than done as Bayern isn’t going to roll over for Barca. It doesn’t matter if they play before Barcelona’s 100,000 fans. And Inter Milan will certainly not change its game-plan which gave them the extremely valuable win at San Siro.
As mentioned earlier, Barca is still master of its own destiny, Xavi Hernández’s team still has three games left in Group C to secure its place in the last 16.
The first game is at Spotify Camp Nou against Inter Milan, the second is against Bayern Munich, who has a perfect record in the group after three games. And the third and final game is away in the Czech Republic against Viktoria Plzen.
If teams are tied on points at the end of the group stage, the UEFA criteria for determining the order in which the teams finish the group takes into account the results of the matches played between the teams in question, followed by the goals scored in total, away from home, and the goals difference in those matches. If that is insufficient to distinguish the teams, the total goal difference in the group as well as goals scored and goals scored away in the group are taken into account.
Even though, Barca will have to keep one eye on El Clasico, scheduled to be played on Sunday, October 16, the Blaugranas just cannot ignore the importance of the game against Inter next Wednesday, just 4 days before they walk onto the pitch to face Real Madrid in the biggest game of the season.
If Bayern does, more than likely, beat Vitoria Plzen, the minnows of the group, next week, Barça can make it to the last 16 by beating Viktoria Plzen and defeating Inter at home by more than one goal difference.
In contrast, if Xavi’s team draws its home match against Inter but defeats Bayern Munich and Viktoria Plzen, Simone Inzaghi’s team must lose its final two games to Viktoria and Bayern Munich in order for Xavi’s team to advance. Last but not least, if Barcelona loses against Inter at the Camp Nou and Bayern picks at least a point in the Czech Republic, Barca would no longer have a chance to advance to the round of 16.
