Three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Young Boys | UEFA Champions League

Barcelona’s strong start to the new season has fans already dreaming of a special run in the UEFA Champions League, a competition that has haunted the Blaugrana in recent years.

Amidst the massive hype, however, the team fell to a flaccid 2-1 defeat to AS Monaco on Matchday one, kicking off their run in the competition to the worst possible start.

The UEFA Champions League returns for Matchday 2 on Tuesday night and this time Hansi Flick and Co. will have the home advantage with the game scheduled at Montjuic.

Their opponents on the night, Young Boys, also fell to a defeat in their UCL curtain raiser against Aston Villa and have not been in good form domestically either, winning just one of their eight games in the Swiss Super League so far.

Needless to say, Barcelona will thus be the overwhelming favourite on Tuesday night.

Barça Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Barcelona vs Young Boys.

A must-win game

The UEFA Champions League presents itself in a new form this season with the initial stages of the competition completely remodelled from previous iterations.

Unlike the traditional group stages, each team plays eight games against different opponents this time around, four at home and four away from home.

Barcelona’s list of opponents includes multiple European giants in Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta. Their defeat against Monaco on Matchday 1, thus, left the management quite concerned.

The Catalans came second best on the night only owing to an unfortunate red card early in the night. Having dropped three points already, the team must get back to winning ways tomorrow night, especially with the schedule ahead in mind.

The game against Young Boys may not be mathematically a must-win game given the increased margin for error in the new format.

However, winning it will ease the pressure against some of the bigger opponents ahead, especially if the team wish to qualify with one round less to play.

Back to full strength

There will be changes to the team that started vs Osasuna. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Hansi Flick made several rotations for Barcelona’s clash against Osasuna earlier this week and admitted after the game that it was his decision that bore heavy on the team.

However, the manager concurrently stated that he did not regret any of his decisions in Pamplona given the importance of the UCL game midweek.

Tomorrow’s game against Young Boys will thus see the Blaugrana line up with all their might despite the seemingly lower-tier opposition. Fresh after being rested, the mainstays will return to the field and look to inflict another season-defining performance.

While Inaki Pena will continue in goal, Inigo Martinez and Alejandro Balde are expected to return to the starting lineup at Montjuic alongside Pau Cubarsi and Jules Kounde in defence.

Pedri and Marc Casado will start in the double pivot with Pablo Torre lined up ahead of them given Eric Garcia’s suspension.

In the final third, meanwhile, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha are both expected to start the game after sitting out the majority of the previous clash.

A massive squad boost

While Hansi Flick has not made a massive fuss about it at any point so far, it is undeniable that Barcelona are neck deep in an injury crisis.

Eight players have been unavailable to the manager in recent weeks, all of whom can claim to be starting-quality options, and their absence has forced the coach to look exclusively towards the subsidiary teams for alternatives.

One of the players who has been out for the longest duration is Frenkie de Jong who was injured last April and was slated to be out for around two months.

The date of his return was continually postponed and he missed deadline after deadline. Now, he is finally ready to make his long-awaited return in what comes as a massive boost for Flick’s plans.

The Dutchman will be called up for tomorrow’s UEFA Champions League clash after over five months. While he will not start, it will be a special sight to see him back on the field once more even for a short cameo.

De Jong’s importance in the manager’s dynamics will only increase in the coming weeks and one hopes the player has indeed made a complete recovery with no risk of a relapse.