Barcelona new home shirt for the 2021-22 Champions League has been revealed ahead of the kit’s official release. The Catalan giants kick off their European campaign on Tuesday, September 14 with a daunting tie against Bavarian giants Bayern Munich at the Camp Nou.
The team will wear a different home strip in the Champions League to the one already debuted in La Liga. The new shirt will has already been spotted on sale ahead of Barca’s opening game of Group E against the Bundesliga champions.
Catalan daily Mundo Deportivo has previously reported the design is based on “certain neighborhoods in Barcelona” with the colors also slightly different from Barcelona’s traditional blaugrana.
Barcelona has been drawn in Group E along with Bayern, Portuguese side Benfica, and Ukranian champions Dynamo Kiev in the group stages. The top two teams from each group qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.
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Barcelona Names UCL Squad
Barcelona’s squad for the Champions League has already been confirmed by UEFA ahead of the opening round of matches in this season’s competition.
Coach Ronald Koeman has named his entire first-team squad along with a host of talented youngsters. Goalkeeper Arnau Tenas makes the cut along with left-back Alejandro Balde, and teenage midfielders Gavi, and Nico Gonzalez,
Gavi is one of the club’s brightest young talents and made his debut in Barcelona’s 2-1 win over Getafe last time out. The 17-year-old became the fourth youngest player to debut for the Catalans in La Liga when he came off the bench.
Summer signings Yusuf Demir, Memphis Depay, Eric Garcia, Sergio Aguero, and Luuk de Jong are also included along with exciting talents such as Riqui Puig, Oscar Mingueza, Ansu Fati, and Pedri.
Yet Koeman will still be without some key players for the match. Aguero, Fati, and Ousmane Dembele all remain on the injured list, but Philippe Coutinho is fit again and could face his former club.
Koeman To Switch Formation?
Barcelona’s last game against Bayern ended in a humiliating 8-2 defeat to the Bavarian giants in the quarter-finals of the competition in 2020, and Koeman and Co. will be desperate to make amends for one of the worst night’s in the club’s history.
Koeman is already planning for the match and could tweak his tactics for the game. The Dutchman may use a 3-5-2 formation for the visit of Bayern, according to reporter Alex Delmas.
The Dutch coach did use the formation last season, to good effect initially, but Barca’s season eventually fizzled out after dropping costly points against teams including Granada, Levante, and Celta Vigo.
Koeman has reportedly been told by president Joan Laporta to use a 4-3-3 formation this season and to employ an attractive brand of football if he is to be handed a new contract at Barca, according to Adria Soldevila at Goal.
Barcelona may not be expected to go too deep into the Champions League this season, particularly after losing Lionel Messi, but failure to progress from the group stages could end up costing Koeman his job at the Camp Nou.
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