When the first stage of Barcelona's round of 16 collision with Benfica is half as good as the match between the two in the competition phase, fans in the Estadio da Luz stand up for a Champions League treat. Undoubtedly, managers Hansi Flick and Bruno Lage will want to better defend on their side than in the 5-4 victory for Barcelona.
The German coach has had to deal with injury problems throughout the season, but only misses Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen because of fitness reasons. He is expected to go with almost the same start XI last week with which Atletico Madrid was confronted in the Copa del Rey, according to the sport.
That means a return to the line-up for Frenkie de Jong about Marc Casado, as well as Inigo Martinez who plays for Ronald Araujo. The only change last Tuesday is the presence of Robert Lewandowski for Ferran Torres.
Gavi missed the training on Monday due to fever, but was back in action on Tuesday evening. However, MD agrees that Dani Olmo starts against Benfica for a third game in a row. On the other hand, Benfica manager Bruno is low without a star -midfielder Florentino Luis and iconic winger Angel di Maria, although injury, with Alexander Bah, Manu Silva and Tiago Gouveia on the sidelines, but remained confidence that he could unleash the Barcelona puzzle.
The only real question for low seems to be whether Samuel Dahl gets the nod in midfield for Leandro Barreiro or not. The Eagles also have a number of possible suspensions to worry about, such as Alvaro Carreras, Orkun Kokcu, Fredrik Aurnes, Nicolas Otamendi and Zeki Amdouni are all suspended for the second stage if they pick up a booking. Barcelona, on the other hand, is currently a clean guidance in terms of suspensions.
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