Predicted Teams Barcelona-Borussia Dortmund: Hansi Flick goes up against former boss

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Predicted Teams Barcelona-Borussia Dortmund: Hansi Flick goes up against former boss

Barcelona host Borussia Dortmund at 21:00 CEST at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Montjuic on Wednesday evening in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final. It is a clash that sees Niko Kovac go up against his former assistant manager Hansi Flick, and the man who replaced him at Bayern Munich as the head coach.

Something that Flick noted he had thought about a lot in the build-up to the match, as he tries to plot a way to the semi-finals. Barcelona’s main question mark is over the absence of Dani Olmo, and Sport believe it will be Fermin Lopez who starts behind Robert Lewandowski, with Raphinha returning to starting XI on the left. Otherwise it will be as expected for the Blaugrana, and MD have the same line-up predicted, with the exception of Gavi in place of Olmo.

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Image via Sport

Olmo is one of four injury issues for Flick to plan around, including Marc Bernal, Marc Casado and Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but the fitness problems for Kovac are much worse. Dortmund are without Nico Schlotterbeck, who was ruled out for the season on Monday, Marcel Sabitzer and Filippo Mane, as well as Pascal Gross through suspension. At risk of missing the second leg are Yan Couto, Maximilian Beier, Rami Bensebaini and Julian Ryerson if they receive a booking, while only Inigo Martinez will be absent in Germany as a result of a yellow card.

#Barca face #BVB this evening in the #ChampionsLeague with doubts over who will replace Dani Olmo in the starting XI. MD believe it will be Gavi over Fermin Lopez.

Dortmund come into the clash with a number of injury issues, and could use Emre Can in defence as a result. pic.twitter.com/13IIejEATi

— Football España (@footballespana_) April 9, 2025

Those absences leave major holes in central defence for Dortmund, and Sport believe that Felix Nmecha and Carney Chuwuemeka will anchor the midfield, with Emre Can dropping back to defence. On the other hand, MD feel that Kovac could utilise a back five, with Can flanked by Waldemar Anton and Bensebaini, with Daniel Svensson on the left flank.

Ter Stegen: "When he [Luis Enrique] said, after two years, 'let’s wait and see how pre-season goes'. I was almost angry. I then spoke with the board. They also said: 'We're absolutely not letting you go'. The release clause was 80 million at the time."

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) April 8, 2025

Barcelona are on a 22-game unbeaten run in 2025, and won their last encounter against Dortmund 3-2, with a late Ferran Torres goal ending Dortmund’s home unbeaten run of almost three years. The Schwarzgelben come into the match in mixed form, but have performed far better in Europe this season, and were unbeaten against AS Monaco and Sporting CP in the previous two rounds.

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