UEFA Champions League 2018: Barcelona vs PSV Eindhoven match preview
What's the story
Barcelona will kick off their 2018-19 Champions League run tonight with their first group stage encounter, at the Camp Nou, against Dutch football club PSV Eindhoven. After being knocked out of the quarter-finals last year at the hands of AS Roma, Valverde's men will take to the field with a purpose. PSV Eindhoven will look to try and contain Barca. Here's our pre-match report.
Barca
How strong does the Barcelona squad look?
Barcelona have won all of their 2018-19 league matches till date, with their attacking players putting up commendable performances every time. However, Barcelona's defense does not look that sharp. They have been allowing easy breaches of their defense and going into the Champions League, this might put them in trouble.
Eindhoven
What about PSV Eindhoven?
PSV Eindhoven will not be an easy opponent for Barcelona, they have had a great start to their Eredivisie campaign this term and are quite strong in front of goal. PSV have scored 13 goals in their last two league matches. Lozano, Luuke De Jong, and Bergwijn have been phenomenal and can cause problems for Valverde's team.
TV listing
Predicted lineups and TV listing
Barcelona: Marc-André ter Stegen, Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba, Rakitic, Busquets, Coutinho, Messi, Suarez, Dembele. PSV Eindhoven: Zoet, Dumfries, Schwaab, Viergever, Angelino, Rosario, Pereiro, Hendrix, Lozano, L de Jong, Bergwijn. The match will start at 10:25 PM and will be telecast on Sony Ten 1 or Sony Ten 2. Fans can also live-stream the match on the Sony Liv website or mobile application.
Players
Who are the players to watch out for?
Dembele has had a fine start to the season, scoring three goals in three matches, and he will lead the attack along with Messi and Suarez. Coutinho will finally make his Champions League debut for Barcelona and will try to steal the spotlight with his performance. For PSV, L de Jong and Lozano will be the players who might shine the brightest.
Data
History between the two teams
Barcelona and Eindhoven have met a total of 6 times in the European tournaments with Barcelona winning twice, their Dutch counterparts winning once, and the rest of the matches have ended in draws.