Barcelona – Eintracht

In Catalonia, there will be no traditional head parade for rivals.

In April 2022, Barcelona and Eintracht met in the UEFA Europa League. A remarkable event occurred then, which is often remembered before the next encounter between the rivals in the European cups. The thing is that Eintracht fans bought between twenty to thirty thousand tickets to "Camp Nou" and managed to boo Barcelona in their own "den." This time, the Catalan club limited ticket sales to away fans, which prevents the shameful scenario for the hosts from repeating. Overall, it's important that Barcelona will actually play a match at their home arena. UEFA delegates inspected it during the match of the "blaugrana" with Alaves. There were enough reasons for the spoiled mood of both Eintracht players and fans, even without the above information. It seems that the entire defensive lineup of the German team should be sent to the club academy, as conceding between three to six goals per match has become the norm for them. Defense is exactly the area where Topmöller will have to seriously scratch his head before the game in Catalonia. They are not expected to forgive many mistakes here. Bookmakers have declared the hosts as favorites for the upcoming match, offering odds of 1.16 on their victory. Barcelona is in great spirits before the Champions League match. Despite losing in the last round of this tournament, there are far more reasons for joy among the Catalans. Firstly, even after losing in London, Barcelona occupies a mid-table position in the overall standings. Four points in the three remaining rounds will be enough for them to reach the playoffs. Secondly, the "blaugrana" have put together a stunning winning streak in La Liga, which they extended to six matches on Saturday. This has allowed Barcelona to climb to the top spot, overtaking Real Madrid. Thirdly, the Catalans managed to play two matches in December against quite decent opponents - Atletico Madrid and Betis, both of which they won. Eintracht lost to Leipzig 0-6 on Saturday. This result is hard to call accidental; the team concedes a lot of goals. At the same time, there should be a limit to sloppiness in defense. Let's bet that the hosts will win with a modest score.