Barcelona will be hosting Dynamo Kyiv at the Camp Nou on Matchday 3 of the group stage of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League season. Ronald Koeman’s side have had a very poor start to this seasons UCL campaign, as they’ve conceded six goals in the first two games without scoring in reply and are at the bottom of the group at the moment. They lost 3-0 to Bayern Munich on the opening day followed by another 3-0 defeat away from home at Benfica. Their opponents, Dynamo Kyiv have been able to salvage a point from their first two games, and are currently sitting above Barca at third in the group standings. They started the campaign with a goalless draw, followed by a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Barcelona have also not had the greatest start to their domestic campaign as well, where they’ve secured just 15 points from their first eight games, and are seventh in the standings. They are five points behind leaders Real Sociedad who have a game in hand, and two behind Real and Atletico Madrid. In complete contrast, Dynamo Kyiv have had a perfect start to their domestic league campaign, as they are unbeaten after the first 11 games, winning nine and conceding just three goals so far.
Booth Barcelona and Dynamo Kyiv are yet to score in this seasons UEFA Champions League, which is a major concern for both managers. The above viz shows Barca’s shot map against Bayern Munich on Matchday 1. Bayern Munich had most of the possession in the match and they did not give Barcelona any real opportunities to score. As one can notice, all the shots were taken from either the edge of the box or from outside the box. This led to Barca producing a very low xG and did not pose any real threat to Bayern Munich’s goal. In the second game against Benfica, Ronald Koeman’s men were again unable to score with only a few shots from inside the box.
The above viz shows Barcelona’s xT creation zones in the game against Benfica where they lost 3-0. Even after having decent possession in the game, they were unable to create many goal-scoring opportunities. To add to that, they were also not clinical enough in the chances they did create. With problems both defensively and going forward, Ronald Koeman has a huge task on his hands to qualify to the knockout stages from this group.
The above viz shows Dynamo Kyiv’s shot map against Benfica on the opening day of the UCL campaign. The game ended in a goalless draw, but Kyiv’s performance going forward was not up to the mark. They took only seven shots in the game, with just two from inside the box. They were also unable to score against the mighty Bayern Munich on matchday 2, where they suffered a 5-0 defeat. At the moment, with one point from the two games, Dynamo Kyiv are third in the group and will at least try to finish at third and play in the Europa League later this season.
The passing zones for Benfica against Bayern Munich show that they completed a very large majority of their passes in their own half. They also lacked creativity going forward, with only one smart pass and a few crosses into the box.
The game between Barcelona and Dynamo Kyiv is a must-win game for both the clubs if they have any aspirations of going through to the knockout stages of the competition. Ronal Koeman and Barcelona will hope to get back to winning ways at the European level, as even after the win, it will still be a huge task to qualify from the group as they are at the bottom of the table at the moment. They are four points behind second-placed Benfica and six behind leaders Bayern Munich. In order to qualify from the group, Barcelona will not only need to get results in all of their remaining games but will also need help from results elsewhere.
Barcelona’s Predicted Starting Eleven(4-3-3): GK: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, RB: Sergi Roberto, CBs: Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet, LB: Jordi Alba; RCM: Gavi, CM: Sergio Busquets, LCM: Frenkie De Jong; RW: Sergino Dest, ST: Memphis Depay, LW: Ansu Fati
Dynamo Kyiv’s Predicted Starting Eleven(4-4-1-1): GK: George Bushchan, RB: Oleksandr Tymchyk, CBs: Illia Zabarnyi and Artem Shabanov, LB: Vitalii Mykolenko; CDM: Serhiy Sydorchuk; RW: Viktor Tsygankov, CMs: Mykola Shaparenko and Oleksandr Andrievsky, LW: Carlos De Pena; ST: Denis Harmash
