Barcelona have secured the Group D top spot with a goalless draw in Torino in November and they host Sporting for the final day of the Group stage on Tuesday with no high stakes involved. However, they need a return to the winning ways to lift their team spirits after a quite unconvincing run since mid-November and we do believe we’re in for a strong display despite the busy schedule.
Blaugrana have earned just a 1-1 draw at Valencia after the already mentioned draw against Juventus, building on it with a 5-0 Copa del Rey win over Real Murcia. However, we’ve seen Celta Vigo hold them to a 2-2 draw in front of the home fans on Saturday, where goals from Suarez and Messi just weren’t enough for them to secure all three points, and building on consistency comes off as a real necessity at this point.
Sporting will, on the other hand, be no easy targets and they have a lot more to play for as they hope to challenge Juventus for the spot in the knock-out stages, sitting just a point behind the rivals. They’ve earned a four-match winning streak across competitions since mid-November, already securing the third spot in the group and looking to cause an upset.
Nonetheless, doing so at Camp Nou comes off as something of a mission impossible for the Portuguese side, with three losses suffered in three head to head matches so far. Barcelona have snatched just a narrow win in Lisbon in late September but surely look set to build on the tally now.
