Barcelona head to Wembley Stadium on Wednesday in need of a result after a run of three games without a win in La Liga.
Tottenham will also be desperate for the three points too after starting off their European campaign with a 2-1 defeat at Inter Milan. They’re in decent form as well, with five wins from seven in the Premier League.
Spurs can also take comfort from Barcelona’s away record in Europe which does not make for impressive reading. Ernesto Valverde’s side won just once on their European travels last season, and even that was a struggle as they needed an own goal to beat Sporting 1-0.
Otherwise they managed goalless stalemates at Juventus and Olympiakos, rode their luck at Chelsea and managed to grab a 1-1 draw, and then went to Roma, and we all know what happened there.
The season before it was a similar story. They won at Borussia Monchengladbach and Celtic in the group stages but also lost at Manchester City. They were then hammered 3-0 at Juventus and 4-0 at PSG in the knockout rounds.
Out of their last 16 Champions League away matches they have won five, lost six and drawn five. Four of those defeats have come in their last nine away games.
An improvement is clearly needed, but Spurs will provided a stern test. They’ve had a decent start to the season with five wins and two draws from their first seven Premier League matches.
They had some great results at Wembley last season in the Champions League. Borussia Dortmund were beaten 3-1, they also saw off Real Madrid by the same scoreline and APOEL were despatched 3-0.
Dele Alli scored twice against Real Madrid and his absence due to injury will be a blow. But Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen will provide a real threat, Lucas Moura has also started the season well with three goals.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino, who has played and managed Espanyol, has admitted he’s not lacking for motivation against Barcelona.
“It motivates me being a periquito and living so many years in Barcelona. Going back to the city is always nice and playing against Barcelona, too. It is always motivating,” he told Marca.
The trip to Wembley will be one of Barcelona’s hardest games of the group stages. However, they will need no reminding that they last time they played there in the Champions League, in 2011, they came home wiith the trophy after beating Manchester United.