Paco Alcacer has a point to prove against Barcelona

Barcelona have never played Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League but will come up against a familiar face at the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday night.

Former striker Paco Alcacer will be in the home dressing room and takes on his ex-employees as the most in-form striker in Europe.

The 26-year-old has played in 10 games this season and has 10 goals. He’s scored in every match he’s played in and will be relishing taking on a leaky Barca backline.

We’re talking one in the German Super Cup, one in the DFB Cup, five in the Bundesliga and three for Spain. Alcacer has only ever scored once in the Champions League but you can bet he fancies his chances against Barcelona.

Dortmund boss Lucien Favre offered his view of Alcacer’s form and said simply: “when he plays, he almost always scores.” He’s not wrong on current form.

Meanwhile, the Catalan giants have been far from convincing defensively this season. Ernesto Valverde’s side haven’t managed a single clean sheet yet, have conceded seven in four games and are probably still having nightmares about their last UCL away match at Anfield.

As for Alcacer, well he’s been a hit for Dortmund ever since sealing a loan move to the club in August 2018. The deal included an option to buy, but the Spain international banged in so many goals the club had decided to take it up by November.

It’s all a stark contrast to his two years at Barcelona where he managed 15 goals in 50 appearances. He appeared 37 times in La Liga, but tellingly 23 of those appearances came off the bench.

Game time was was always going to be hard to come by with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all ahead of him in the pecking order and by 2018 he’d understandably grown tired of sitting on the bench.

Yet Alcacer has also come out ahead of the match and stirred things up a little, claiming he was not treated as well as he might have been during his time at the Camp Nou.

“Many people behaved very well with me but many people behaved very badly. My team-mates and the fans treated me well.

”As in any job, if people trust you, you give your best, and if they don’t trust you, you don’t give it. It’s very important for me to see those signs of trust and in the end many people did not show it.”

Source | SER Catalunya (via Goal)

There is no doubt at all that Alcacer has earned Dortmund’s trust, and he now has the perfect chance to show his former team exactly what he can do.

Alcacer knows the Barcelona team well, will have the power of the Yellow Wall behind him and the Spanish champions will need to be wary of their former striker if they are to get a result in Germany.