The car of the illusion of Barcelona in the Champions

Straight

Barça returns to the Champions League as excited as it is chastened with a lever match to use President Laporta's economic terminology.

The visit of Viktoria Plzen (Camp Nou, 9:00 p.m., Movistar LC) should be a good opportunity for the Barça declaration of intent with a view to the next two trips to Munich and Milan.

There are three teams that will compete for the two places that give access to the round of 16 and a fourth willing to deduct points and decide the fate of the group as it is the champion of the Czech Republic.

"A cheat game because the rival is very physical", warns Xavi.

“He plays direct football, with quick transitions, and excels in strategy and second moves”, concludes the Barça coach.

Barcelona's priority is "to get through the first phase and then we'll see", Xavi underlines.

“Win the Champions League?”, the coach asked himself at the request of the journalists.

“Dreaming is free and we compete to win, but I don't want to talk about being favourites.

We have to be cautious and very humble without getting off the car of illusion in which we are”.

The curriculum invites caution if one takes into account that last year Barça did not go beyond the league after scoring only two goals in six games, both against Dinamo kyiv —they were zero against Bayern and Benfica—, and was subsequently eliminated from the Europa League by Eintracht.

That night he embarrassed Barça.

Viktoria Plzen also has its strengths after leading the league in its country with five consecutive wins and a draw and overcoming the Champions League qualifying phase undefeated —there are already 12 games without losing in the 2022-2023 season—.

Xavi is suspicious of the opposition and, however, will start the rotations after repeating the line-up in the last two League games.

Pablo Torre is the novelty of a call that still does not include Bellerín or Marcos Alonso —they were presented yesterday— nor Pjanic, who is negotiating his departure.

"The calendar is very demanding," warns Xavi, who wants to regulate forces against Viktoria Plzen and on Saturday against Cádiz before facing Bayern in Munich on Tuesday.

The moment is so placid that the style is discussed again: "The counterattack is also part of Barça's DNA", Xavi concluded.

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