Barcelona will play against Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday, 28 November. The Catalans unexpectedly added to their problems in the European Cup by losing to Shakhtar. Now the playoffs are in question. Both teams have nine points each. The winner will already qualify for the next round.

Barcelona has been in a mini-crisis for months now. There are problems both in the game and with the squad. The successful start to the season has not been followed up. The club has already slipped to fourth place in the Spanish league. Unfortunately for the Catalans, this result looks natural. The constant reshuffling of the squad has led to problems.

There are difficulties at each of the positions. Firstly, the main goalkeeper ter Stegen is out. Probably, the German will not be in the meeting with Porto. In the midfield, veteran Romeu failed to live up to expectations, and now Gavi is injured. In attack, too much responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of 16-year-old Yamal. He is not able to play so consistently. Robert Lewandowski's form is also adding to the coach's headaches. The Pole is having his worst season of his adult career at the European level.

In the last match Barcelona failed to beat Rayo Vallecano away. They also had to win the game back in the course of the match. The Catalans had an advantage on XG, if you take advanced statistics, but again there was no huge superiority. They only got one goal.

Porto can be happy with the way the season is shaping up. "Dragons" won three matches out of four in the Champions League. In the championship they keep their title chances alive. The gap from the leaders is only three points. Strictly on results, Porto are in better shape than Barcelona, but it is important to realise the difference in the level of the opponents. "The Dragons have won seven of their last eight matches. The only defeat was at home to Barcelona. The match was close to equal. Porto objectively deserved one goal scored. The obvious discovery of the Champions League is scorer Evanilson. The Porto forward scored four goals.

It's time for Barcelona to get back on the winning track. After several failures, the mood for the Champions League decider at home will be special. It is doubtful that the club will want to postpone the play-offs to the last round. Porto's strength should not be overestimated. The team gave a fight to Barcelona at home, but will look more modest away. The series win should also not mislead. The level of opponents was too low in the last matches.

It is very likely that for Barcelona now a relatively open opponent, capable of attacking, will be a more favourable choice. The team will be able to take advantage of some freedom in attack.