Barcelona head to the Allianz Arena on Tuesday full of confidence for their latest Champions League clash with Bayern Munich.
The Blaugrana have been on the receiving end of some thumping results against Bayern in recent years – the last three games have seen an aggregate scoreline of 14-2 in Bayern’s favour – but there is real hope that they can be the victors this time after flashing some excellent form under Xavi.
Here’s how the boss could set up to end Barcelona’s losing streak against Bayern.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – The obvious starter, Ter Stegen has conceded just twice so far this season, one of which came late time out in Europe against Victoria Plzen.
RB: Jules Kounde – Kounde isn’t a huge fan of playing at right-back but Xavi won’t have been a massive fan of Hector Bellerin’s debut performance against Cadiz.
CB: Ronald Araujo – Araujo has enjoyed an excellent few years, blossoming into the new leader of Barcelona’s defence.
CB: Eric Garcia – Gerard Pique did a good job against Cadiz but Xavi appears to have moved on from the veteran defender.
LB: Alejandro Balde – Balde has been keeping Jordi Alba out of the team and has so far done enough to fend off competition from new signing Marcos Alonso as well.
DM: Sergio Busquets – His slow style of play doesn’t win a lot of supporters but Busquets is thriving with a couple of young guns doing the dirty work ahead of him.
CM: Pedri – Pedri has already proven himself as one of the top midfielders around and brings an ability to change a game which some of Barcelona’s other midfielders are yet to master.
CM: Gavi – He might have stepped back from creating goals but Gavi now looks more important than ever, doing the ugly side of things defensively before getting things going further up the field.
RW: Raphinha – You sense that there is still another level for Raphinha to hit at Camp Nou but it’s clear that he is enjoying life under Xavi.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – Lewandowski scored four goals in five games against Barcelona for Bayern and is now looking to even the odds.
LW: Ousmane Dembele – Xavi has got the very best out of Dembele this season – expect the Frenchman to be a huge threat down the left.
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