Barcelona v Inter Milan: Spaniards without Messi for Champions League match

Published on: 23 October 2018

Ernesto Valverde has led Barcelona to a perfect start in Group B with two wins

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde says his side need to "work together" to get a result against Inter Milan, without injured striker Lionel Messi.

Messi broke his arm in Barcelona's La Liga victory over Sevilla on Saturday and is out for several weeks.

"We'll have to work together to make sure Leo Messi's absence shows as little as possible," Valverde said.

"We have the players to cover for him. The whole team will give it all they have."

Barcelona, who lost to Roma in last season's quarter-finals, have made a perfect start to their Champions League campaign, beating Tottenham and PSV to top Group B with six points.

However, Inter Milan are unbeaten in seven games and Valverde is aware of the threat the Italians will bring to the Nou Camp on Wednesday.

He said: "Inter are in great form after winning seven in a row. They never give up, as shows from so many wins in the final minutes and after coming back from behind."

Team news

Inter are expected to be without Belgium midfielder Radja Nainggolan, while Marcelo Brozovic and Ivan Perisic are also huge doubts.

Nainggolan was injured during the Milan derby last weekend.

Inter coach Luciano Spalletti says the 30-year-old could be out for "a while" with an ankle injury, suffered after a challenge with AC Milan's Lucas Biglia.

Meanwhile, Barcelona defenders Samuel Umtiti and Thomas Vermaelen are ruled out of the match through injury and join Messi on the sidelines.

Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba said: "Leo is a big loss. We all play better with him on the field. We'll have to bring out our best and we're quite capable of doing that."

Match facts Head-to-head

    Barcelona have won three of their six Champions League matches against Inter (D2 L1), with the only defeat coming in the first leg of the semi-final in 2009-10 (3-1).

Barcelona

    At home, Barcelona have won four of their five meetings with Inter in all competitions, including all three in the Champions League without conceding. Their only home defeat against them was in the Fairs Cup in January 1970 (2-1). Barcelona are unbeaten in their past 13 Champions League home games against Italian sides (W10 D3), since a 2-1 loss to Juventus in April 2003. Barcelona have won 25 of their past 27 home Champions League games (D2) since losing 3-0 to Bayern Munich in May 2013, scoring 85 goals and conceding just 13 in those games.

Inter Milan

    Inter are looking to win their opening three Champions League matches in a season for just the second time, also doing so in 2004-05. Since winning 4-0 against Werder Bremen in September 2010, each of Inter's past nine Champions League wins have been achieved by a one-goal margin - of the 12 teams to win 50 Champions League games, Inter have the highest number of victories by one goal (32 of 52, 62%), while opponents Barcelona have the lowest (40 of 140, 29%). Inter have won their past two Champions League games despite conceding the first goal in both games; only two clubs have ever won more despite conceding first in consecutive games - Manchester United (three in November 2012) and Real Madrid (four in April 2017).

Source: bbc.com

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