Barcelona will hope to end their poor run of results and climb the Champions League table when they face Brest on Tuesday.
Despite three straight wins in Europe, Barcelona find themselves on a run of two games without defeat domestically, with this weekend’s 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo particularly frustrating for Hansi Flick to watch.
Not only would a win here be good for morale, but it would also take Barcelona above Tuesday’s opponents in the standings. Brest have ten points from four European games, profiting from a friendly fixture list to make some serious noise early on.
Here’s all you need to know about Tuesday’s match.
Barcelona vs Brest H2H Record
This will be the first competitive meeting between Barcelona and Brest.
Current form (all competitions)
|
Barcelona |
Brest |
|---|---|
|
Celta Vigo 2-2 Barcelona – 23/11/24 |
Monaco 3-2 Brest – 22/11/24 |
|
Real Sociedad 1-0 Barcelona – 10/11/24 |
Montpellier 3-1 Brest – 10/11/24 |
|
Red Star Belgrade 2-5 Barcelona – 06/11/24 |
Sparta Prague 1-2 Brest – 06/11/24 |
|
Barcelona 3-1 Espanyol – 03/11/24 |
Brest 0-1 Nice – 02/11/24 |
|
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona – 26/10/24 |
Reims 1-2 Brest – 26/10/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
TNT Sports 4, discovery+ |
|
United States |
Paramount+, ViX |
|
Canada |
DAZN Canada |
The biggest concern for Barcelona remains the fitness of winger Lamine Yamal. The teenage superstar is close to a return from his ankle injury but is not expected to make it back in time for this one, which comes as a huge blow as Flick’s side are yet to win a game without him in the starting lineup.
Ronald Araujo, Ansu Fati, Andreas Christensen, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Marc Bernal are all unavailable, but there is some hope that both Ferran Torres and Eric Garcia could return to the squad here.
Flick confirmed in his pre-match press conference that left-back Alejandro Balde will miss out with a muscle problem, but the youngster should be available again soon.
Barcelona predicted lineup vs Brest (4-2-3-1): Pena; Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Martin; De Jong, Casado; Raphinha, Pedri, Olmo; Lewandowski
Bradley Locko remains sidelined for the visitors, who are also expected to be without Massadio Haidara, Romain Faivre and Soumaila Coulibaly.
Brighton loanee Abdallah Sima is battling to recover from a muscle injury, while Pierre Lees-Melou is also hoping to shake off a knock picked up last time out against Monaco.
Brest predicted lineup vs Barcelona (4-3-3): Bizot; Lala, Chardonnet, Le Cardinal, Amavi; Camara, Lees-Melou, Fernandes; Balde, Ajorque, Doumbia
Barcelona are much better than their recent form says – even without Yamal – while Brest, with all due respect, are not what their unbeaten start to the Champions League may suggest they are. The French side have had a favourable run of fixtures, although let’s not discredit their 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.
Domestically, Brest find themselves 12th in Ligue 1 after losing seven of their first 12 games. Despite their superiority in the Champions League table, they are heavy, heavy underdogs here.
Barcelona shouldn’t need Yamal to make light work of Brest, who may even have one eye on the Ligue 1 relegation battle they are slowly slipping towards.
