Champions League: Group F preview ~ Barça’s Quest for Fifth Title Begins.

FC Barcelona kick off a new UEFA Champions League campaign which sees them facing familiar foes and a new competitor. New manager Luis Enrique will get his first ever taste in Champions League football as a manager. Will he able to duplicate the success of Guardiola in getting the Blaugrana back to the Promised Land?

FC Barcelona’s foes in this season’s Champions League group stages are Paris Saint-Germain F.C., Ajax Amsterdam, and APOEL FC. Luis Enrique will kick off his managerial debut in the Champions League with his side hosting the Cypriot side APEOL FC at the Camp Nou in Match Day 1. This is APOEL’s third appearance in the group stages with their last visit seeing the club from the small island in the Mediterranean Sea reaching all the way to the Quarter-Finals before falling to Real Madrid. Their other experience against La Liga teams in this competition came in 2009-2010 season where they were grouped with Atlético Madrid and finished fourth behind Chelsea, Porto and Atlético respectively. Current APOEL players John Arne Riise, with Liverpool, and Tiago Gomes, with Hercules CF, both tasted victories with their respective teams at the Camp Nou against FC Barcelona.  APEOL’s Urko Pardo is also a former member of La Masia and was a member of the 2004-2005 Barça B team. Meanwhile, Ivan Rakitić, with FC Schalke 04, faced APOEL in the 2008-2009 UEFA Cup first round and scored a goal against them.

FC Barcelona also renew acquaintances with Ajax Amsterdam and Paris Saint-Germain F.C this season. Despite both club’s long history in European football, last season was the first time Barça and Ajax faced one another in European competition. Both sides tasted victory on home soil with Barça enjoying a 4-0 victory at the Camp Nou while Ajax won 2-1 in Amsterdam. Both APOEL and Ajax are expected to fight each other for third and fourth place in this group. Ajax’s domestic campaign is off to a poor start while APOEL has two heavy weights to deal with which might be a tall order for the small club. Upsets however do occur so don’t write them off just yet.

PSG are considered Barça’s rivals for the top spot of the group. Barça will once again face former players, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Maxwell and Thiago Motta. Ibra and Maxwell also represented Ajax and Barça together in the past so this will be a reunion tour of some sort. This is the first time both teams meet in the group stages. Their recent encounter took place in the 2012-2013 Quarter-Finals where Barça eliminated PSG on away goals following a 3-3 aggregate result. Barça and PSG faced each other in the 1994-1995 Champions League Quarter-Finals stage where PSG upset Cruyff’s Dream Team by winning 3-2 on aggregate. Barça did however defeat PSG 1-0 a few years later in the 1997 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final. The final group match will feature Barça hosting PSG in what could be a pivotal match for qualification to the knock out stages as group winners or a lack luster affair where the top two spots have been decided and will feature role and youth players.

Luis Enrique’s last encounter as a manager in European competition came with Roma when they were upset in the 2011-2012 Europa League playoffs by Slovan Bratislava. Luis Enrique suffered criticism for his handling of that tie and he will now get a second chance to improve his record in European competition. Nevertheless, there are lingering questions for Barça for this upcoming Champions League campaign.

Will Lucho pull an Ancelotti and go with a different starting keeper for Champions League action and one for league action? Claudio Bravo has been his starter in all 3 league matches but with Ter Stegen deemed fit, will Luis Enrique give the young German keeper his first competitive debut or will the manager stick with Claudio Bravo. With Luis Suarez set to miss the first three matches of the group stage, will Lucho go with experience in Neymar and Pedro or trust his young starlets Munir and Sandro to start up front with Messi or mix it up?

Champions League never gets dull regardless of what group your club is in. Barça kick off their campaign in a group that has a bit history in terms of rivalry, influence, and underdog elements to it. Tomorrow will see Barça begin a new quest and for the Blaugrana faithful, one can hope it ends in success on June 6^th in Berlin.

International break a blessing in disguise.

Once again, the poorly timed international break is forced upon us by FIFA. Countries playing in meaningless friendlies just two weeks after the domestic leagues have started never ceases to rile up club supporters. It disrupts the rhythm of the players getting used to playing with new teammates or under a new manager, or in Barça’s case, both. It also can lead to injuries which impacts the clubs they play for. For once however, this international break came at a good time for Barça.

Usually, the international break usually means Barça see their players coming back from international duty full of extra wear and tear along with some small knocks or serious injuries. However, this time around, a few Barça players were knocked out of representing their national teams because of pre-existing injuries. Messi suffered a hamstring injury against Villarreal while Iniesta has some discomfort in his knee, Ter Stegen is recovering from a back injury, Pique isn’t 100% fit and is feeling some discomfort while Vermaelen is on his road to recovery from his thigh injury. With Barça’s next game in another week, this week off has been a blessing for them to recuperate.

Barça’s next match is at home to the ever dangerous Athletic Bilbao on September 13. For those who are hurt or recovering from small knocks, this week off is a godsend. Barça are off to a perfect start to their league campaign while their arch-rivals Real Madrid already sputtered by losing 4-2 to Real Sociedad. Barça will need their best players to beat Athletic, who are considered one of the best teams to fight for a Champions League spot after finishing 4th last season and qualifying to this year’s Champions League group stages.

With Barça set to play 6 matches in 3 weeks, this extra rest will come in handy. They face Athletic on the 13th, kick off their Champions League campaign at the Camp Nou against APOEL on the 17th, play away to Levante on the 21st and also Malaga on the 24th, host Granada on the 27th before concluding the month with a trip to France to face PSG. Not a lot of rest between games so Luis Enrique will have his work cut out for him and a well-rested and healthy squad is clearly beneficial for him. The only concern is that we hope that this break does not result in injuries to the current Barça players representing their countries. The FIFA Transfer ban is in effect so it’s either stay healthy or rely on the Barça B players for Luis Enrique. Fingers crossed we have all the players healthy for this month.