Meet Zvezda's rival - Barcelona

Barcelona was founded way back in 1899. They belong to a select group of clubs from European leagues that managed to win the "triple" crown in one season. The club from Catalonia has in its showcases: 27 Spanish Champions trophies, 31 Spanish Cup trophies, five Champions League trophies, three Club World Cup trophies, five European Super Cups, four Cup Winners' Cup trophies, 17 Spanish Super Cup trophies, nine Catalan Cups and three Cups intercity fairs.

Throughout history, Zvezda has met Barcelona as many as nine times. Five matches were played in the Cup Winners' Cup, now the Europa League, while the remaining matches were played in the European Champions Cup, a competition better known today as the Champions League. Crvena zvezda won two games, one was played as a draw, while Barcelona won six times. Our club was most successful against the Catalan club in the 1962/63 season, when it won twice. In the first game, Zvezda won 1:0 thanks to a goal by Bora Kostić, while in the second match it was better than the Spanish rival with a score of 3:2. The goals were scored by Spasoje Samardžić, Josip Skoblar and Rade Ognjanović. The game from the 1996/97 season, which was played on October 31, 1996 at Maracana, and which ended with a score of 1:1, is certainly the best known to our fans. It was one of the few matches in which someone outplayed the powerful legends of Barcelona like Laurent Blanc, Pep Guardiola, Ronaldo, Hristo Stoichkov, Luis Enrique and others...

Barcelona's coach is Hansi Flick, a German who insists on an attacking game and high pressing. They play a strict 4-3-3 formation with two attacking midfielders in the middle block. They are currently in the leading position in "La Liga" with maximum performance, four wins from as many games.

The starting lineup consists of: Ter Stegen-Kunde, Araujo, Christensen, Balde-De Jong, Pedri, Olmo-Jamal, Rafinha, Lewandowski. There is no doubt that the biggest danger is from Lewandowski, who is still one of the best point guards in the world, but also from Jamal, who is considered the most talented player in the world, as he confirmed during the matches at the European Championship in the Spanish jersey. The first option from the bench will be Torres, then young Lopez, Torres...

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