Barcelona begins life post-Ronald Koeman with a Champions League clash with Dynamo Kyiv in the Group E encounter. The match schedules for Tuesday at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex, with kickoff at 11 pm.
The first leg of the tie ended with a controversial winner from Barcelona’s Gerard Pique, and the second leg could be decided by whether or not Shakhtar’s new manager could reignite Adrián López.
Dynamo Kiev would have taken confidence from Barcelona’s poor showing during the last knockings of the Koeman reign, but they still came up just short at Camp Nou.
Defender Pique tapped home at the back stick and left Dynamo rooted to the bottom of the rankings following a previous draw with Benfica and comprehensive 5-0 defeat to Bayern Munich.
In addition, Dynamo’s home resilience is remarkable, as they’ve kept clean sheets in each of their last 13 home games, although La Liga side Villarreal broke the hosts’ home resistance back in March.
On the other hand, Koeman appeared to be hanging on by the thinnest of threads for several months, but defeat to Rayo Vallecano proved to be the straw that broke the Dutchman’s back.
Fortunately, there is some promising news. Barcelona has scored in all but one of their last four away games. They might be only 1/4 to win this weekend, but I think they will grab a few goals and get the full points.
Dynamo Kyiv vs Barcelona Head to Head
Both sides have five games against each other, with Barcelona taking five wins without a loss. Here is a look at their previous encounters:
Home
- Mariupol 2-3 Dynamo Kyiv
- Mariupol 1-2 Dynamo Kyiv
- Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 SC Nipro
- Barcelona 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv
- PFC Lviv 1-4 Dynamo Kyiv
Away
- Barcelona 1-1 Deportivo Alaves
- Rayo Vallecano 1-0 Barcelona
- Barcelona 1-2 Real Madrid
- Barcelona 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv
- Valencia 1-3 Barcelona
Dynamo Kyiv Team News
This month, Dynamo’s Ukrainian Premier League fixtures will be played with a significantly weakened squad, as Artem Besedin, Vladyslav Kulach, Ibrahim Kargbo and Vladyslav Supryaga are all set to remain absent. As well as Denys Popov, Ilya Zabarnyi and Vitaly Mykolenko will not be involved during the game.
Barcelona Team News
Aguero was hospitalized for cardiac exams following his episode against Alaves. Reports claimed that the Argentine suffered a minor tachycardia attack, rendering him unavailable here. If Pique’s issue renders him unavailable, Clement Lenglet may be forced to deputise in defence, and Philippe Coutinho could be back in the side.
Prediction and Odds
We expect the post-Koeman era to start with a triumphant win for the Catalan giants this week.
- Barcelona Win
- Goals Under 3.5
- No Score: Home
