Defender Andreas Christensen is the latest addition to the injury list. Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres; who isn't on the injury list? Barcelona's defence has no room for comfort anyway. In Saturday evening's match against Girona, the Barca defence conceded goals as well.
Defender Ronald Araujo somehow snatched victory by scoring in injury time. That day, however, Lamine Yamal had played. So, coach Hansi Flick will probably build the team keeping Yamal. Flick has already called up Diego Kochen, Eder Aiyer, Toni Fernandez and Juan Hernandez from the youth team. They are on standby for the Olympiacos match.
After winning the first match, Barcelona lost to PSG. Manchester City had also lost to Napoli in the first match. But drew against Monaco in the next game. Now their opponent in the return to winning match is Spain's Villarreal. City won't have midfielder Rodri in this match. He has a hamstring injury. According to coach Pep Guardiola, “Even if not for long, we won't have Rodri for this week's two matches.”
However, City, who are in good rhythm at the moment, should not have difficulty winning.
Arsenal's challenge is bigger. They will play against Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid. Although they lost to Liverpool in the first Champions League match, they scored five goals against Eintracht Frankfurt in the next match. Atletico also beat Real Madrid 5-2 in La Liga. So Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta will have to come up with a strengthened defence against Atletico.
Julian Alvarez and Giuliano Simeone will certainly keep Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba in mind. Again, Atletico will have to worry about Arsenal's set-pieces. Arsenal have already scored eight goals from set pieces this season.
Champions Paris Saint-Germain will play against Germany's Bayer Leverkusen tonight. Dembele and Doue's team is buoyant after beating Barcelona in the previous match. Luis Enrique's team is a favourite in this match. Napoli must win against PSV, though. After losing to Manchester City in the first match, they beat Sporting in the second match.
