Overview
The most notable clash in the fifth round of the Champions League between Barcelona and Chelsea ended with a better-than-expected result. Ronald Araujo's red card in the 44th minute made the situation worse for the Blaugrana, who were behind and had difficulty finding the pace of play.
The second-half goals of Estevao and substitute Liam Delap, after Jules Kounde's own goal in the 27th minute, further exposed Barcelona's instability in the continental arena.
Blaugrana have won just one of their last four Champions League games, including a 3-3 draw with Club Brugge and a 1-2 loss to Paris Saint-Germain, interspersed with a 6-1 win over Olympiacos. This result has left Barcelona with only 7 points after the first five matches (2 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses), ranking 18th on the rankings. This is a surprisingly low position compared to last season, when they were second after the League Phase.
Currently, Barcelona is trying to rise to the top of the Champions League rankings. The Catalan team has a basis for confidence thanks to their positive form in La Liga, with 3 consecutive wins, scoring a total of 11 goals. 5 of those goals came in a dramatic match against Real Betis last weekend, thanks to a hat-trick from Ferran Torres and goals from Roony Bardghji and Lamine Yamal.
Blaugrana still have a chance to improve their performance in the Champions League in the following matches. They will aim to win a ticket to the knockout round, while maintaining impressive performance in the domestic tournament.
Barcelona will take advantage of their free attack to exploit the loose defense of Eintracht Frankfurt, who have conceded 13 goals in their last 4 matches.
Meanwhile, coach Dino Toppmoller's team was just defeated by Leipzig 6-0, marking a streak of 3 consecutive matches without a win in all competitions (2 draws, 1 loss), despite still holding seventh place in the Bundesliga rankings.
In the Champions League, Frankfurt dropped to 28th place with 4 points, 2 points behind the place in the play-off round, mainly due to defensive problems.
The loss to Atalanta in the fifth round was their third defeat in their last four matches. Before that, Frankfurt also lost 1-5 to Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, showing that Toppmoller needs to improve his defense to improve his performance.
However, history still brings hope when Frankfurt is unbeaten in the previous two meetings with Barcelona. They drew 1-1 at home and won 3-2 in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals in the 2021-2022 season.
Personnel situation
Barcelona will be without goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen (back), Gavi (knee) and Dani Olmo (back) as the trio are still recovering.
Araujo is on a personal leave and is also unable to play due to suspension from the match against Chelsea. Therefore, Gerard Martin is likely to combine with Pau Cubarsi in the center of defense.
As for Frankfurt, the defeat to Leipzig added to the pressure when Michy Batshuayi had to leave the field and could not play. At the same time, Jonathan Burkardt, the team's top scorer, has not recovered from injury and will be absent from this match.
The highlight of the loss to Leipzig was the return of key midfielders Can long and Hugo Larson. The duo will help Frankfurt stabilize the midfield and prepare for the confrontation with Barcelona.
Expected lineup:
Barcelona: Garcia, Kounde, Martin, Cubarsi, Balde, De Jong, Pedri, Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha, Lewandowski.
Frankfurt: Zetterer, Kristensen, Koch, Brown, Theate, Dahoud, Chaibi, Gotze, Doan, Bahoya, Knauff.
The match between Barcelona and Frankfurt takes place at 3:00 am on December 10 (Vietnam time).
