The Champions League is back and FC Barcelona's first fixture of 2026 takes them to the beautiful city of Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic.

all about the game in our match center

They go there knowing that they need to win their last two remaining fixtures of the League Phase, this one away to Slavia Prague (Wednesday 9pm CET) and the one at home to FC Copenhagen next Tuesday. Barça are currently two points adrift of a top eight finish, and are already relying on the teams above them dropping points. If they don't beat Slavia, a difficult task becomes practically impossible, and Hansi Flick and his squad will need to navigate an awkward play-off round.

Bounceback time

They and a large contingent of travelling supporters go into the game following a setback on the domestic front. The run of eleven consecutive victories, one of the longest winning streaks in club history, came to an abrupt end on Sunday as Barça toppled to 2-1 defeat at Real Sociedad.

But as Flick was quick to point out after the game, there is no cause for alarm. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the way his team played. If hadn't been for the woodwork (five times!) and a number of maddeningly close offside calls, they could have been comfortable winners at Anoeta. Sometimes Lady Luck smiles at you and sometimes she doesn't. She certainly wasn't in the best of moods on Sunday.

Head to head

1920: Friendlies in Barcelona
Barça 3-2 Slavia
Barça 0-0 Slavia
Barça 6-0 Slavia

1923: Friendly in Barcelona
Barça 1-0 Slavia

1930: Friendly in Barcelona
Barça 6-3 Slavia

1934: Friendlies in Barcelona
Barça 2-3 Slavia
Barça 2-3 Slavia

2019: Champions League Group Phase
Slavia 1-2 Barça
Barça 0-0 Slavia

Barça had a strong relationship with Slavia early in the century. The Czechs visited Barcelona on four separate occasions between 1920 and 1934, providing the Catalans with a valuable opportunity to test themselves against a team from what was then Czechoslovakia, one of the strongest footballing countries of the era.

 

It would then be 75 years before the clubs met again, in the Champions League group stage of 2019. Barça went ahead after just three minutes in Prague thanks to Leo Messi, but Jan Bořil got Slavia back level in the second half before a Peter Olayinka own goal won it for Barça.

The reverse fixture in Barcelona ended 0-0, but Barça would go on to top the group while the Czechs finished bottom.

Slavia Prague

Wednesday's opponents, whose 19,370 capacity Fortuna Arena is the biggest stadium in the country, spent most of their existence in the shadow of their city rivals, Sparta. All 11 of Slavia's Czechoslovak titles were won before 1947 and it was not until the separation from Slovakia that they celebrated a new league title in 1996.

They have won another seven championships since then, including last season, which earned them a direct ticket for the UCL League Phase, where their results thus far have been as follows_

Slavia 2-2 Bodø/Glimt
Inter Milan 3-0 Slavia
Atalanta 0-0 Slavia
Slavia 0-3 Ajax
Slavia 0-0 Athletic Club
Tottenham 3-0 Slavia

Things haven't gone too well. They only have three points from their first six games, earned from draws with Bodø/Glimt, Atalanta and Athletic Club, and have failed to score a single goal in their last five outings. Unless they can pull off a major shock by beating Barça, they'll already be eliminated when they go to Pafos, Cyprus for their final game.

But things are going well for them on the domestic front, where they are currently seven points clear of Sparta at the top of the Czech First League table. 

Most capped players
Oscar Dorley (Liberia 51); Tomáš Holeš (Czechia 37); Ivan Schranz (Slovakia 35); Lukáš Provod (Czechia 34); Michal Sadílek (Czechia 30); David Zima (Czechia 24); Tomáš Chorý (Czechia 19); Mojmír Chytil (Czechia 18); David Douděra (Czechia 15); Jindřich Staněk (Czecia 14); Daiki Hashioka (Japan 11); Igoh Ogbu (Nigeria 7); Vasil Kušej (Czechia 6); Muhammed Cham (Austria 5).

Did you know?

  • In 14 competitive meetings with La Liga sides, Slavia Prague have only managed to win once, against Sevilla in 2018-19.
  • If Slavia fail to win today, they will have the unwanted 'honour' of matching Genk's record run of 17 winless UCL games.
  • In contrast, Barça have won seven of their eight Champions League games against Czech opposition.
  • Barça have conceded at least one goal in their last nine UCL outings. If Slavia score today, ten would be the team's longest run without a clean sheet in the competition.
  • Robert Lewandowski has scored against 38 different teams in this competition, and Slavia are one of the teams missing from his collection. If the Pole scores, he'll only need one more team to match Leo Messi's record of 40.
Hanke, the only Czech at Barça

Team news

FC Barcelona were missing the key services of Raphinha against Real Sociedad at the weekend, but it was only a minor fitness issue and the Brazilian is back with the team for this one. Howver, Lamine Yamal will be a major loss. The teenager has to sit this one out due to yellow card accumulation.

And it was also revealed on Monday that Ferran Torres will miss the trip after suffering an injury to the semimembranosus muscle in his right leg, with an estimated recovery time of around ten days.

Longer term absentees Andreas Christensen and Gavi are also unavailable.

Due to the long winter break in the Czech championship, it is over a month since Slavia last played a competitive fixture, a 4-3 win over Jablonec back in December. That might mean they're coming into this game fresher. Indeed, other than long-term injuries to Matous Srb and Dominik Javorcek, manager Jindřich Trpišovský has a full-strength squad to work with.

However, the opposition's lack of match practice (other than a series of friendlies) might also work in Barça's favour. 

What they say

Coach Hansi Flick was clear during the pre-match press conference in that a win from this match and 16 points is the aim from this League Phase. He knows his side will have to put in a "put in a Champions League performance" against a side who "attack and press and are dangerous on the break".

The coach was joined by fullback Alejandro Balde in fielding questions from the press and he considers that they will have to "be focused on the game", that the cold "is no excuse" and that the "team is confident" despite the recent loss in La Liga away to Real Sociedad.

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