MILAN: Barcelona could be on the verge of another humiliating group-stage exit from the Champions League.
With Barcelona and Inter Milan seemingly competing for the second spot in Group C, behind a perfect Bayern Munich, it’s an advantage to the Italian side after it controversially won 1-0 at San Siro last week.
Another victory for Inter at Barcelona on Wednesday would mathematically qualify the Nerazzurri for the round of 16 and consign Barcelona to an early exit from the competition for the second straight year — unless Bayern loses to Viktoria Plzeň in what would be a major upset.
Barcelona will be looking to Robert Lewandowski for inspiration. The former Bayern Munich forward netted a hat trick against Plzeň but was kept quiet against his old team and was largely anonymous in the first match against Inter.
“It’s an important match in which we will have everything on the line,” Barcelona defender Marcos Alonso said after the Catalan club beat Celta Vigo 1-0 at home Sunday for its seventh straight Spanish league victory.
Inter will be hoping the victory against Barcelona signalled a turning point in its season after a mediocre start to the domestic campaign which saw it lose four of its opening eight Serie A matches before that important Champions League win.
Simone Inzaghi’s side made it two wins in a row with a 2-1 victory at Sassuolo on Saturday.
“We showed in the last game against Barcelona that we had turned a page,” Inter midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan said after the Sassuolo win. “We are Inter and we showed we never give up.”
Inter will still be without injured forwards Romelu Lukaku and Joaquín Correa.