Can Hansi Flick guide Barcelona to automatic qualification against Copenhagen?

Barcelona welcome Copenhagen to Camp Nou for Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League league-phase finale.

Blaugrana secured a 3-0 victory over Real Oviedo in La Liga at the weekend.

Hansi Flick’s side were also successful in their last Champions League outing, as they defeated Slavia Prague 4-2 and are currently sitting ninth with 13 points in the league-phase standings.

Copenhagen battled to a 1-1 draw with Napoli last time out in the Champions League and are currently sitting 26th in the league-phase standings.

Match preview

Barcelona and Copenhagen’s only two previous meetings came in the group stage of the 2010/11 Champions League – Barcelona won 2-0 in the home fixture thanks to a Lionel Messi brace before drawing 1-1 in the reverse fixture in Denmark.

Copenhagen didn’t win any of their first 15 matches against Spanish teams in European competition (D6 L9), yet won their most recent one, versus Villarreal on MD6 of this season’s Champions League (3-2).

This will be just the third time that Blaugrana have hosted Danish opponents in the European Cup/Champions League, winning both of the previous two by the same 2-0 scoreline (v Brøndby in 1998/99 and Copenhagen in 2010/11).

Since the start of the 2023/24 season, Barcelona’s only defeat in a Champions League home match in the league phase came against reigning champions Paris SG this season (2-1 defeat). They have won eight of the 10 matches in this period (D1 L1), while averaging more goals per game (3.2) than any other team in league phase matches on home soil.

The Lions are unbeaten in their last three Champions League matches (W2 D1) and are looking to go four without defeat for the first time. They’ve picked up four points in their last two games (W1 D1) despite facing almost three times as many shots as they’ve had themselves (13 shots, 38 faced).

Copenhagen are looking to win consecutive away Champions League matches for the first time, having won 3-2 at Villarreal in December. 21% of their total away goals across their 23 away games in the competition were netted that night at the Estadio de la Cerámica (3/14).

Fermín López has scored five goals in six Champions League games for Barcelona this season. Only one Spanish player has netted more in a single edition for them in the competition: Luis Enrique in 1999/2000 (6).

Copenhagen’s Jordan Larsson has netted three goals in the Champions League this season, the joint most by a Copenhagen player in a single season. It’s also the joint best scoring season by his father in the competition, Henrik Larsson, who scored three in six games for Celtic in 2001/02.

Team news

Barcelona

Andreas Christensen, Ferran Torres, Pedri and Gavi are sidelined with injuries.

Frenkie de Jong is suspended for this fixture due to the milestone yellow card he picked up in the Slavia Prague victory.

Copenhagen

Rodrigo Huescas and Magnus Mattsson are unavailable due to injuries.

While Thomas Delaney is suspended after he was sent off in the Napoli stalemate.

Predicted line-ups

Barcelona: J Garcia, Kounde, Cubarsi, Martin, Balde, E Garcia, Casado, Yamal, Fermin, Raphinha, Lewandowski.

Copenhagen: Kotarski, Meling, Gabriel, Suzuki, Lopez, Elyounoussi, Madsen, Claesson, Larsson, Cornelius, Dadason.