Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona predicted lineups and team news
The two highest-scoring teams in the Champions League this season clash in a mouth-watering league-phase game on Wednesday (December 11th) as Borussia Dortmund host Barcelona.
Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona Predicted XIs
Borussia Dortmund (4-3-3): Kobel; Ryerson, Can, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Sabitzer, Nmecha, Gross; Malen, Guirassy, Gittens.
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Inaki Pena; Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde; Pedri, De Jong; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski.
Kick-off at the Westfalenstadion is scheduled for 20:00 GMT, with the game set to be shown live on TNT Sports 4.
Both teams are currently on course to qualify automatically for the last 16 of the competition after each winning four of their first five games.
Dortmund’s only setback came against another Spanish side as they lost 5-2 in a crazy away game against Real Madrid in October, while Barca are on a four-game winning streak in this competition after opening with a 2-1 defeat in Monaco.
Araujo close to a comeback for Barcelona
Barcelona have become known over the years for having a wealth of attacking talent, but soon manager Hansi Flick may have the more unusual issue of having more top-class defenders available than he can fit into his team.
Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo has been named in the squad for the trip to Dortmund after five months out with a hamstring injury sustained in the Copa America quarter-finals last summer.
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Araujo has been a regular in the Barca line-up when healthy for the last four seasons, but his welcome return to the squad leaves Flick with the decision of when and if to break up his current defensive partnership of Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez.
The mix of youth and experience has worked well to date but, with the talent of Araujo hard to ignore, it is likely that one of them will have to make way soon.
It may not come in this match, with Araujo likely to work his way to full fitness by starting on the bench, but he could be in line to start in the lower-profile home game against Leganes in La Liga on Sunday.
READ MORE: Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona prediction and betting tips
Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona Team News
Dortmund will be without central defender Niklas Sule, who sustained an ankle injury in the 1-1 draw against Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday. He missed time with a similar injury this season.
Forward Maximilian Beier was hurt in that match too and is a doubt, while Waldemar Anton is also sidelined.
Emre Can could come into the side to replace Sule, with Nico Schlotterbeck being the team’s only front-line centre-back who is fit.
Barca have added classy defender Ronald Araujo to their squad, as noted above, and have no new injury worries, although Andreas Christensen, Ansu Fati, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Marc Bernal are still out.
Inaki Pena is set to start in goal ahead of Wojciech Szczesny.
Ferran Torres has been pushing for a Champions League start after scoring in the last two games against Mallorca and Real Betis, but Raphinha and Lamine Yamal are set to retain their places as the main forwards alongside central striker Robert Lewandowski.
