Came the day. The day that Barça plays a whole season to a single game. The day when we have to show again that we are Barcelona and that it is impossible for them to kick us out of a group stage. In less than 10 hours, the team led by Xavi Hernández will face Benfica at the Camp Nou in one of the games of the year. If the culé team wins it will be in the round of 16, but if it draws or loses it will be practically eliminated from the Champions League in the group stage.
Barça faces an entire final in November, and the team was not used to having to suffer in any competition until March-April. He will also do it with a restructuring team and without its best players, since Pedri, Dembélé or Ansu Fati will have to watch the game from the stands as mere spectators.
Benfica has already shown in their stadium that they do not mind being dominated in large sections of the game, but that as long as you leave space, you are finished. A team that masters both areas to perfection, capable of doing damage when it appears to be asleep, like a predator.
For Barcelona it will be very important that the success upstairs is accompanied by a defensive solidity that allows the team to finish with a clean sheet. Barça are conceding too many goals this season and in large part it is due to the multiple injuries suffered by the team in defense coupled with the poor performance that Marc-André ter Stegen is offering. It is possible that Xavi will leave Ronald Araújo on the bench again, to bet on Piqué and Eric García in the exit of the ball.
Winning is not an option. It is an obligation. As Xavi said, the Camp Nou must be bursting and ready to leave its soul on a difficult night. On a night in which Barça has to reconnect with itself and show the fans that the seasons are still being decided in April, not in November.
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