Barcelona will seek to maintain their spotless record in the Champions League so far this season when they host Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday.
Xavi’s side won their opening two games in Europe, scoring six goals and conceding none, and cut the gap to La Liga leaders Real Madrid to a point with victory over Athletic Club on Sunday.
While plenty of eyes in Catalonia are firmly fixed on El Clasico at the weekend, Barca must first deal with a Shakhtar side that earned a slender victory at Royal Antwerp in their last UCL outing.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of this Champions League encounter.
Barcelona vs Shakhtar Donetsk H2H Record (last five games)
Current form (all competitions)
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Country |
TV channel/live stream |
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United Kingdom |
discovery+, discovery+ App, TNT Sports 1 |
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United States |
Univision NOW, TUDN.com, UniMás, TUDN USA, TUDN App, ViX, Paramount+ |
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Canada |
DAZN Canada |
Barcelona’s raft of injury problems mean Xavi is having to get more creative in dealing with important absences in his squad.
Marc Guiu was the latest beneficiary as the Masia graduate came off the bench and scored Barca’s winner against Athletic Club. He’s unlikely to be dumped into the starting XI against Shakhtar but could be named in the squad.
Gavi’s suspension alongside Frenkie de Jong’s injury means options are limited in midfield. Oriol Romeu will sit at the base with Ilkay Gundogan and Fermin Lopez expected to start alongside him.
Raphinha, Sergi Roberto, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde won’t feature, but there is a chance Pedri could make his long-awaited return from a hamstring problem as a substitute.
Barcelona predicted lineup vs Shakhtar Donetsk (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Cancelo, Araujo, Christensen, Balde; Gundogan, Romeu, Lopez; Yamal, Torres, Felix.
Shahktar have no new injury concerns. Both Ivan Petryak and Lassina Traore have been sidelined for months and won’t be fit in time to feature in Catalonia.
The starting lineup will likely feature Taras Stepanenko, the Ukraine stalwart with 80 caps at international level, and 22-year-old striker Danylo Sikan, who scored twice in the 3-2 win at Antwerp on Matchday 2 earlier in October.
Shakhtar Donetsk predicted lineup vs Barcelona (4-1-4-1): Riznyk; Konoplya, Bondar, Rakitskyi, Topalov; Stepanenko; Zubkov, Bondarenko, Kryskiv, Newerton; Sikan.
Barcelona’s functional outfit rumbled to its ninth win of the season in all competitions as they successfully squeezed past Athletic Club, but there’s no doubt their cohesiveness and attacking threat has dropped off with the loss of key players to injury.
Without attacking stars like Lewandowski and Raphinha, Barca have relied on Ferran Torres and Joao Felix to guide them to slender victories over the past month or so.
Lionel Messi, David Villa and Dani Alves were among the Barca legends who played in their last meeting with Shakhtar back in 2011 as they finished off a comprehensive 6-1 aggregate win in the quarter-finals with a 1-0 victory.
Shakhtar managed a straightforward 3-0 success against Cherkasi last time out but will find any points hard to come by on Wednesday.
Prediction: Barcelona 2-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
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