What is Barcelona’s possible starting lineup vs Bayern Munich in the Champions League today?

Barcelona travel to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Tuesday as Xavi attempts to pull off a result that has eluded all of his forebears in the Camp Nou hotseat: victory in the Allianz Arena. Barça have played Bayern a total of 13 times in official European competition and have only won two of those encounters, with two draws. The Bundesliga giants have dominated the historical rivalry and in the three most recent meetings between the sides Barcelona have barely laid a glove on their opponents: the 8-2 trouncing in Lisbon in the 2020 quarterfinals was followed by two 3-0 defeats in the group stage last season.

Xavi, though, has turned the fortunes of his boyhood club around since returning to the stadium where he made his name as one of the finest midfielders in the world. Last season he inherited a rudderless side from Ronald Koeman and took them to second in the league, although the jury remains out on his European knock-out credentials after defeat in the Europa League quarters against eventual champions Eintracht Frankfurt. The game against Bayern provides a perfect platform for Xavi to silence any doubters. Julian Nagelsmann’s side are not firing on all cylinders and have been held to three draws already in the Bundesliga this season, but the German champions did beat Inter Milan 2-0 away last week.

Barcelona scoring and not conceding

The Barcelona boss has overseen a good run of results, with his side scoring three or more in their last five games and chalking up a total of 20 goals this season, for two conceded. Robert Lewandowski has added a clinical edge to a team that lacked a focal point (and a decent striker) last season in the absence of Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembélé's renaissance, along with the brilliance of Raphinha on the opposite flank, has given Barcelona a formidable attacking unit in 2022-23. The emergence of Gavi and Pedri has rejuvenated a midfield that has never been the quite the same since Xavi and Andrés Iniesta moved on, but the young Spain stars and captain Sergio Busquets have restored some of Barça’s former glory to the middle of the park.

Despite a new-look defence, Xavi has also shown he knows how to shore up a back line and has not shied away from dropping old warhorses such as Jordi Alba and Gerard Piqué in favour of a more youthful back line rotating new arrivals Héctor Bellerin and Jules Koundé and central defenders Eric Garcia and Ronald Araújo, with the only position still largely undecided the left full back, although Xavi may well decide to go with the experience of Alba in Munich.

Barça have also benefitted from not falling prey to their recent Achilles heel this season: injuries. Whether through improved conditioning techniques or blind luck, Xavi has a full complement of players to take to Munich and will have to drop two of his squad ahead of the game. An injury-free panorama is a luxury few of his predecessors experienced.

Possible Barcelona starting XI vs Bayern Munich

Ter Stegen; Bellerín, Koundé, Araújo, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets, Gavi, Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Dembélé.