Basel vs BarcelonaPrediction, probable lineups, recent form & season stats

Basel arrive after five mixed results: a 4-2 win over Thun, a 0-1 home defeat to Lausanne, a 1-0 at Servette, then a goalless draw with Juventus and a 2-2 with Winterthur. Seven goals scored, five conceded, and only two clean sheets in the run. Barcelona have found the net in four of their last five. They beat Nottingham Forest 1-0, drew 2-2 at Birmingham, put four past Europa FC and pulled one back in the 1-3 at Valencia. The only blank came in the 0-1 at Udinese. That adds up to eight goals, several of them in games that ended up going the wrong way. There is no previous meeting between the two sides, so there is no history to lean on. What is left is recent form, in which neither has kept a clean sheet more than twice and almost every match has been opened up at both ends. The prediction may change in the hours before kick-off. Confirmed line-ups, late injuries, suspensions, rotation ahead of other fixtures and the state of the pitch and the weather can all alter the picture described above. In those cases the selection may be reviewed and updated within 12 to 24 hours of the match: this happens rarely, but when it does, the version published on this page is always the current one. The data and assessments here are provided for information and statistical purposes.