Barcelona will travel to Dynamo Kyiv for their fourth Group E match of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League season. Barcelona had a poor start to their UCL campaign, losing 0-3 to both Bayern Munich and Benfica in the opening two games. They picked up a 1-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv at Camp Nou two weeks ago, and are currently third in the group with three points from three games. On the other hand, Kyiv are in the fourth position with their only point coming against Benfica. In this post, we will preview the match between the two teams using some stats.
Domestically, Barcelona’s poor form has led to the sacking of their manager Ronald Koeman, who has now been replaced by Sergi Barjuan. They drew their most recent game against Deportivo Alaves 1-1 under the new manager, and are currently down to the ninth position in the La Liga standings with just 16 points from 11 games, nine points behind Real Sociedad at the top of the standings. In the domestic league in Ukraine, Dynamo Kyiv are top of the league with 35 points from 13 games and are also the only unbeaten team in the country, but they have been unable to replicate the same form in their European games.
The above viz shows the xGA or expected goals against stat of various teams in the Champions League. A team like Barcelona is not expected to be on this list, just like many other big teams in Europe. But due to their bad form, conceding six goals in the first two games, they have an xGA of 5.991, which is the seventh-highest. Dynamo Kyiv are fifth on the list with an xGA of 6.4 as they conceded five goals against Bayern Munich and one each against Benfica and Barcelona. Both teams have their problems defensively, as Barcelona will hope to improve under a new manager, who will be heading his first game in the Champions League after signing for Barcelona.
Dynamo Kyiv’s shot map from the game at Camp Nou where they lost 0-1, shows that they were not allowed to take any kind of shots or create opportunities in the match. They had just two or three shots from outside the box and one from inside. At home, they will hope to create more opportunities and also score goals against a weaker Barcelona team.
Barca’s shot map from their victory over Kyiv showed some positive signs as they had a decent number of shots and close opportunities, though they were only able to score one goal. They will hope to improve both defensively and going forward, as they hope to register a win at Kyiv.
Dynamo Kyiv’s Predicted Starting Lineup(4-5-1): GK: Buschan, LB: Karavaev, CBs: Syrota, Zabarnyi, RB: Kedziora, LW: DE Pena, LCM: Sharapenko, CM: Syndorchuk, RCM: Buyalsky, RW: Tsigankov, ST: Shkurin
Barcelona’s Predicted Starting Lineup(4-3-3): GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen, LB: Jordi Alba, CBs: Lenglet, Eric Garcia, RC: Mingueza, LM: Pedri Gonzalez, CM: Busquets, RM: Gavira, LW: Coutinho, CF: Memphis Depay, RW: Sergi Dest
