The simple presence of Lionel Messi in the starting line-up of Barcelona gives the Catalan team another dimension of play. True, on the field there are other names like Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic, Phillippe Coutinho or Ousmane Dembele, very prepared for any eventuality, but witout the Argentine danger of catastrophe is present. It’s very simple: without Lionel Messi, the Culés are at risk of losing their perfect step in the Champions League, and may even be defeated.
Messi has resolved in favor of Barcelona hundreds of games that looked complicated. A spark or a genius was enough. Now, with his injury in the duel of the previous Saturday against Sevilla and absence of at least three weeks, the Catalans should use the rest of ‘cracks’ to get ahead of their meeting against Inter Milan on Wednesday October 24 .
It is true that Inter does not have the super stars that Barcelona has on their squad, but it has very good players capable of putting their rival in serious trouble.
The azulgrana are presented in this meeting as leaders of Group B with 6 points and with recent numbers in Champions that invite optimism. From the start, in their last 15 official games of this tournament they have a remarkable mark (9-4-2), they only lost 1 game of their last 13 (that 3-0 against Roma) and in the process they scored 24 goals in favor (Only in the two most recent games they scored 8).
At home, the balance is even more impressive. Of the last 10 games in Champions, they won 9 and tied 1. They have 27 games without losing in the tournament and 25 of those duels were victories with an average of 3.1 goals per game. In addition, Inter previously visited the Camp Nou on 3 occasions and in all was defeated.
In case these data were not enough, the Catalans have almost completely dominated the Italian clubs playing at home in Champions (14-4-2), accumulate 15 games without losing to them and their last defeat dates back 15 years. Everything looks great, but Messi will not be there.
Inter also has 6 points so far in the tournament and has 3 wins in a row at the continental level, although in its last 15 European commitments its record does not scare anyone (6-3-6).
The Nerazzur team, which comes from winning the derby against Milan, has an elite goalscorer in the figure of Mauro Icardi, and hence his 7 consecutive European matches scoring at least 1 goal. Perhaps the only bad omen for the Italians is the fact that in Spain they do not do well in Champions when they face teams from this country.
Its last triumph was in 2003 and in total, of 11 games, they lost 7 and they add 5 meetings in a row without winning. But the fact that Lionel Messi is not in front of them opens many possibilities to get a good result.