Who: Barcelona vs. Club Brugge
What: Champions League group stage
Where: Jan Breydel Stadium, Brugge, Belgium
When: Wednesday at 9pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 17:00 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.
Barcelona are unbeaten at home this season, winning six and drawing one of their seven games at Jan Breydel Stadium, despite being firmly in the mix against Club Brugge.
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Although they lost to Atalanta and Bayern Munich, the Belgians still managed to win 4-1 over Monaco earlier in the group stage.
Club Brugge are currently second in the Belgian Pro League, three points clear of league leaders Union Saint-Gilloise, and they won 2-1 at home over Denders over the weekend.
Barcelona have won six Champions League games this season, winning either way against Olympiacos or Newcastle United, to lose 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain, who are also in the Champions League.
Lamine Yamal also scored early as Barcelona bounced back from their Clasico defeat on Sunday, beating Elche 3-1 at home to reclaim second place in the Spanish league.
Barcelona retaliate
Barcelona lost 2-1 to Real Madrid in the first Clasico of the season to lose, and Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford both scored against Elche.
After the win over Elche, where Barca were dominant but looked vulnerable, coach Hansi Flick said, “I saw many things we did well, but I also saw some things we didn’t do well.”
The three points were earned because it was a difficult match. We must constantly improve. With this victory, we have greater confidence. We must continue, though, because it is another step. We must consider the upcoming games with optimism, and I’m happy.
Flick wants Rashford to exhibit more clinical behavior.
Flick believes the England international should have scored even more goals despite Rashford having already scored six goals in all competitions since joining Barcelona on loan from Manchester United in July.
One or two goals more will be beneficial for him, Flick told reporters, “when you see the chances he has.”
“I’m happy he shows this level of skill, and I’m confident in his ability.” He is a very significant player for both the fans and the club, as well as the teammates.
Rashford acknowledged that his decision-making could be improved.
“On the pitch, I just make sure to do the right thing.” I could have had more assists or goals even today. After Elche defeated the team, the 28-year-old said to Spanish media that “sometimes the decision to shoot or pass was wrong”.
Hayen contends that Brugge can’t afford to give Barca the ball.
Nicky Hayen, a 45-year-old coach at Club Brugge, took over as interim manager in the 2023-2024 season. He has since won three titles, including the Belgian Super Cup in 2025 and the Belgian Cup last year.
Last year, Brugge also advanced to the Champions League’s last 16 after being aggregately defeated 6-1 by Aston Villa.
Hayen praised his team’s “ideas and intentions” following the weekend victory over Denders, but claimed that “the quality was not always top-notch.” The Belgian side will need to significantly improve their game in order to defeat Barcelona.
By scoring that third goal, we could have made things easier on ourselves. Additionally, he said, “We gave away some balls, which you should never try to avoid at all costs when you play Barcelona on Wednesday.”
Head-to-head
Only two times have Barca and Club Brugge faced off. Both of Barcelona’s matches, which were in the Champions League group stage, were won.
The last time the two teams met, Barcelona won 1-0 away in Bruges thanks to Juan Riquelme’s goal.
In the previous game at Camp Nou, Barca had won by a score of 3-2.
Team news from Club Brugge
Due to a groin injury, former Sunderland and ex-Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet will miss out, and Ludovit Reis will also miss because of a shoulder issue.
Raphael Onyedika, a midfielder from Nigeria, came off the bench against Denders over the weekend after five weeks of unfitness.
The main attacking trio at Club Brugge, Christos Tzolis, Nicolo Tresoldi, and Carlos Forbs, may have some problems for Barca. Tzolis, a young Greek international winger, has eight goals and eight assists this season, while Tresoldi, a young Greek international, has six goals and three assists to his name.
Before facing Barca, Tresoldi stated that he was anticipating facing one of his heroes.
One of my idols is [Veteran striker Robert] Lewandowski. He stated, “I’m looking forward to playing against him.”
news from the Barcelona team
Important midfielder Pedri is expected to be unavailable until after the November international break due to a muscular issue, while winger Raphinha is still out with a hamstring issue.
Although injury-prone Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Joan Garcia are also sidelined, Barca are fortunate to have the reliable Wojciech Szczesny between the sticks.
Due to a calf issue, center back Andreas Christensen will likely miss Wednesday night and not play for the past two games.
As they recover from injuries and are likely to start as substitutes against Brugge, Lewandowski and playmaker Dani Olmo started some minutes off the bench against Elche.
Starting lineup for Club Brugge was anticipated
Jackers, Sabbe, Ordonez, Meijer, Stankovic, Forbs, Audoor, Vanaken, Tzolis, Tresoldi, and others.
Barcelona’s starting lineup is anticipated
Source: Aljazeera
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