The home side are heading into the match on the back of thumping 5-0 victory over Real Betis in the La Liga at the weekend, while the Reds secured a comprehensive 3-0 Belgian pro League-win over Westerlo on Friday.
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Barcelona will be desperate to make a winning start to their 2023-24 UEFA Champions League campaign when they play host to Antwerp in a Group H fixture at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Tuesday night. Having failed to progress to the knockout round in the last two editions of the tournament, Xavi’s men will be bidding to go the distance this time around and their recent form does give a lot of confidence to the Catalonian fans. The home side are heading into the match on the back of thumping 5-0 victory over Real Betis in the La Liga at the weekend, while the Reds secured a comprehensive 3-0 Belgian pro League-win over Westerlo on Friday.
𝖬 𝖠 𝖳 𝖢 𝖧 𝖣 𝖠 𝖸
⭐️🏆ᴵᴺ ᵀᴴᴱ🏆⭐️
𝖢𝖧𝖠𝖬𝖯𝖨𝖮𝖭𝖲 𝖫𝖤𝖠𝖦𝖴𝖤 pic.twitter.com/39Urklmx8D— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 19, 2023
Although Barcelona made an underwhelming start to their La Liga title-defence, playing out a goalless draw against Getafe on August 13, Blaugrana have since gone from strength to strength, recording four successive wins against the likes of Cadiz, Villarreal, Osasuna and Betis. Xavi’s men put five goals past the Greens last time out , with latest recruits Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo finding the back of the net, while Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres and Raphinha also registered. Meanwhile, Blaugrana are huge favourites when it comes to topping this group, which also includes Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto.
Antwerp, on the other hand, are competing in the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in their history, so Tuesday will be a huge moment for the Belgian club. The Reds won the Belgian top flight title last season, and thereby qualified for the Champions League playoffs, where they took on AEK Athens. Mark van Bommel’s side managed to triumph home and away against the Double-Headed Eagle’s, running out 3-1 winners on aggregate to advance to the group stage of Europe’ elite club football competition. Meanwhile, the Great Old have made a mixed start to their league-title defence, recording three wins, two draws and a defeat from six top tier-games so far. Nevertheless, Bommel’s side thrashed Westerlo in their last outing thanks to one goal each from Vincent Janssen, Jelle Batallie and Arbnor Muja. The result extended their unbeaten run to six games across all competitions, winning four matches in the process.
Barcelona probable starting lineup: Ter Stegen, Cancelo, Kounde, Christensen, Balde, Gavi, De Jong, Gundogan, Yamal, Lewandowski, Felix
Antwerp probable starting lineup: Butez, Bataille, Van den Bosch, Coulibaly, De Laet, Keita, Ekkelenkamp, Vermeeren, Balikwisha, Janssen, Muja
Barcelona
| Opponents | score |
| Real Betis | 5-0 (W) |
| Osasuna | 1-2 (W) |
| Villarreal | 3-4 (W) |
| Cadiz | 2-0 (W) |
| Getafe | 0-0 (D) |
Antwerp
| Opponents | Score |
| Westerlo | 0-3 (W) |
| Royale Union SG | 2-2 (D) |
| AEK Athens FC | 1-2 (W) |
| AEK Athens FC | 1-0 (W) |
| Leuven | 1-1 (D) |
The UEFA Champions League fixture between Barcelona and Antwerp will take place at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Wednesday at 12:30 am IST.
| Barcelona vs Antwerp | Key Details |
| Date | September 19 (Spain) |
| Venue | Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys |
| Kickoff time in Spain | 9:00 pm (Tuesday) |
| Kickoff time in Belgium | 9:00 pm (Tuesday) |
| Kickoff time in India | 12:30 am (Wednesday) |
The live telecast of the UEFA champions League matches in India will be available on Sony Sports network. Besides, football fans in India can also live stream the game through Sony LIV and Jio T V. Meanwhile, those in Belgium can tune to RTL network and VTM 2 for live action, and football fans in Spain can watch the match on Movistar + and Movistar Liga de Campeones.
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