The first matchday of the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League campaign comes with a thrilling encounter as Barcelona host Bayern Munich.
The Catalan giants finished third in La Liga to secure passage to the competition whilst Bayern continued their dominance in the German top flight.
Barca head into Tuesday’s game winless in three Champions League matches and have not gone four games without a win in the Champions League since 2013.
This will be a rematch of the 2019/20 quarter-final, with wounds still fresh after an 8-2 beating that ensued chaos in the Catalan camp, leading to a new-look Barcelona.
This will be their first appearance in the competition without Lionel Messi for over a decade and it will be a tricky test for Ronald Koeman’s charges.
Barcelona and Bayern Munich haven’t met in the UEFA Champions League group stages since 1998/99, with Barca losing both matches and going out after finishing third.
Bayern have not suffered defeat on the road in Europe’s elite tournament since losing 3-0 at PSG in September 2017 – winning 14 and drawing four away from home since then.
Play here to make your predictions for all the midweek Champions League action.
What time does Barcelona vs Bayern start?
The game kicks off at 10pm Kenyan time at the Camp Nou.
Barcelona vs Bayern team news
Barca are dealing with a lot of attacking problems after Antoine Griezmann returned to Atletico Madrid.
Sergio Aguero, Ousmane Dembele, Ansu Fati and Martin Braithwaite are all out injured.
Memphis Depay has started his season with a bang and will lead the attacking line alongside Philippe Coutinho and Luuk De Jong.
For the visitors, it’s the exact opposite as they boast a heap of attacking threats in Robert Lewandowski, Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane and Jamal Musiala all pushing for starts.
Lucas Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard are also fit again and are hopeful to get the nod for the Tuesday night clash.
Barcelona vs Bayern head to head
These two sides have gone up against each other 10 times and Bayern have come out on top on half of those occasions.
Barcelona have won 4 times, last victory coming in a 3-0 win in 2015.
Only one game has ended in a draw.
Barcelona vs Bayern current form
The hosts have won three, lost one and drawn one in their recent run of five matches.
However, Bayern come into the game with an unblemished record, winning all of their last 5 matches.
Barcelona vs Bayern prediction
There is no doubt that this is not the Barcelona of old that everyone feared and with Bayern’s ability to score many goals, this may prove unbearable for the Catalans.
Bayern are most likely to come out on top with an away victory.