The Champions League returns this week and fans are set to be rewarded with a heavyweight clash between Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Both sides won at the weekend, beating Sevilla and AC Milan respectively, and are currently sitting on maximum points in Group B as well.
Read on for Barcelona vs. Inter live stream options, team news, predicted XIs, stats and TV channel info.
When is Barcelona vs. Inter Milan?
Competition: Uefa Champions League
Venue: Camp Nou
Date: Wednesday, 24 October
Kick-off: 8:00 PM BST
Match Preview
Barcelona have won their first two games of the Champions League, beating PSV at home and Spurs away. However, Inter have also beaten PSV away and Spurs at home, putting both sides on six points heading into this crunch clash.
Inter have rebounded after a tough start this season to enter a rich vein of form coming into the game; heaving beat city rivals Milan at the weekend in the literal last second. Meanwhile Barcelona recently suffered a wobble of their own, going four straight Liga games without a win before beating Sevilla at the weekend.
However, nothing clouds the match like the injury to Barcelona’s superstar Lionel Messi. The Argentine fractured his arm during the win over Sevilla and is set to miss up to a month of action. This is bad news for the Blaugrana as he is their everything, how they reorient the side without him will go a long way to deciding who wins this match.
Where can I watch live?
Barcelona’s game against Inter can be viewed by UK residents on BT Sport ESPN, channel 426 on Sky and channel 530 for Virgin Media users. BT Sport subscribers can also watch the game online at sport.bt.com and via their BT Sport app.
The game is also available to watch on fuboTV.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about fuboTV
How can Barcelona cope without Lionel Messi?
This is the big question for Barça: how can they possibly cope without the best player in the world? He’s their top goalscorer, top assister, he’s their most dynamic forward and their most creative midfield player. He’s everything. That said, Barcelona do kind of have a ready-made solution in the squad in the form of Ousmane Dembélé. The Mercurial young Frenchman can slot right into Messi’s right-wing role and Barça can play fast, intense and creative football with a solid 4-3-3 structure. This allows the creativity burden to be spread throughout the side, and will see Dembélé and Coutinho operate as key creative playmakers for the side.
Who should Tottenham Hotspur root for?
Spurs are currently third in the group, with no points from their first two games and, whilst they will be chasing six from six against PSV, they have to wonder which result in Catalunya will be most beneficial to them. On the one hand, a draw keeps both sides from getting too much momentum but that does move both sides further away from Spurs.
An Inter win makes sense on paper, but that means that Barcelona’s clash with Spurs on matchday six at the Camp Nou could have real significance for the Blaugrana, which would be bad news for Spurs. The fact is that Inter still have to come to Wembley, meaning Spurs stand a greater chance of beating them. If Barcelona win here and in the second game, putting them out of sight but leaving Inter well within Spurs’ reach with a Wembley clash to come, that would surely suit the north-London side most.
Can Barcelona finally keep a clean sheet?
In their 2017/18 La Liga win, Barcelona conceded 29 goals in 38 games. So far this season they have conceded an incredible 11 goals in 9 games; keeping just three clean sheets all season, and two of those were their first two games of the campaign. They’ve conceded 10 goals in the six games since their last clean sheet, and that’s going to be a serious problem against Inter’s Icardi-led attack.
Head To Head
Barcelona started their season with six straight wins but this gave way to an incredibly poor run of form where the Blaugrana failed to win for four consecutive La Liga matches in a row (though they did beat Spurs in between draws there). Their poor run meant that they couldn’t separate themselves in La Liga and are first by just one point. They are top of their Champions League group, however, with six points out of a possible six following wins against PSV and Spurs.
Inter, meanwhile, began things with two defeats and a draw in their opening four games. The Nerazzuri have impressively bounced back from this bad start to win an incredible seven games in a row. This run of good fortune began with the last-minute winner against Spurs in the Champions League and was most recently extended by the last-minute winner against hated rivals Milan. They have six points from six in Group B and will be looking to go top when they travel to the Camp Nou.
Barcelona wins: 3 Draws: 2 Inter wins: 1
Team News
Barcelona will be without the injured Messi and Samuel Umtiti, who are both absent long-term.
Inter, meanwhile, are sweating over the fitness of Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic, though both are are expected to be fit enough to play. They will, however, be without Radja Nainggolan, as the Belgian has a serious ankle injury.
Predicted Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Arthur; Dembélé, Coutinho, Suárez.
Predicted Inter XI: Handanovic; Vrsaljko, de Vrij, Skriniar, Asamoah; Vecino, Brozovic; Keita, Valero, Perisic; Icardi.
Predictions & Betting Tips
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1. Barcelona to win and both teams to score to win @ 17/10
Inter will travel to the Nou Camp looking to defend deep and frustrate their opponents, but will have opportunities to get at the Blaugrana.
Barcelona’s weaknesses in defence will be something Inter can get at, as Sevilla showed at the weekend and with someone like Mauro Icardi up front the Nerazzurri won’t be going home without scoring.
But even without Messi the Blaugrana should have too much quality for the Italian side.
Key Stat: Barcelona have conceded 14 goals in 12 games so far this season.
Tip: Barcelona to win and both teams to score to win @ 17/10 with William Hill – bet here
Odds correct at time of publishing (23/10/2018, 14:15)
18+ only. Ts&Cs apply. BeGambleAware.org
2. Over 2.5 goals @ 1/2
Barcelona are known for their attacking potency but this season it appears to be more important given their leaky defence – though this has made Blaugrana matches even more exciting to watch.
Only three of Barcelona’s 12 matches across all competitions so far have seen fewer than 2.5 goals scored, with the highest-scoring game an 8-2 win over Huesca.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan’s matches have also been fairly fruitful with six seeing over 2.5 goals.
Key Stat: All of Barcelona and Inter Milan’s Champions League matches this season have seen over 2.5 goals scored.
Tip: Over 2.5 goals @ 1/2 with William Hill – bet here
Odds correct at time of publishing (23/10/2018,14:15)
18+ only. Ts&Cs apply. BeGambleAware.org
3. Mauro Icardi to score anytime @ 21/10
Against AC Milan at the weekend, Mauro Icardi did not have the greatest game with fewer than 20 touches throughout the 90+ minutes.
But this did not stop the Argentine from scoring the injury-time winner to give Inter the bragging rights over their city rivals, and continue Inter’s winning run.
On Wednesday, Icardi is likely to once again spend large periods of time off the ball with Barcelona pressing, but he has shown he only needs one touch to score.
Key Stat: Mauro Icardi has scored six goals in nine games so far this season.
Tip: Mauro Icardi to score anytime @ 21/10 with William Hill – bet here
Odds correct at time of publishing (23/10/2018, 14:15)
18+ only. Ts&Cs apply. BeGambleAware.org
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