Barcelona's 2021-2022 UEFA Champions League group has already been tabbed among the ones to watch, as the Catalan side will face off against Bayern Munich, S.L. Benfica and Dynamo Kyiv.
Barca manager Ronald Koeman came away from the Champions League group stage draw pleased with his team's opponents for this season. The Catalan giants sure will be tested against the reigning Bundesliga winners Bayern and a Benfica side filled with plenty of promising talents.
In speaking to Barca TV, Koeman provided his initial takeaways on the opponents that Barcelona will square off with in Champions League Group E.
“For me, it is a good draw,” Koeman said. “I think it is a strong group, as are others. Ours is a very strong group because we are talking about big teams like Bayern Munich, above all, but also Benfica, which are two teams with a lot of name and a lot of history.
“And in the case of Bayern, with the bad memory for us from two years ago. And Dynamo Kyiv, we know them because we played against them last year, so we know more or less what we can expect.”
Koeman offered more insight on Barca's upcoming duels with both Bayern Munich and Benfica. The Dutch manager well recognizes the multiple top talents who the Bundesliga powerhouse has on its roster, while he has already been doing a bit of scouting on Benfica.
“Bayern Munich is a club that aspires to win the Champions League,” Koeman said. “They have a great team with great players, very experienced, and surely the fight for the first place will be with them and Benfica.
“I saw their [Benfica] game against PSV the other day, and they were a man down for a game. They defended well, they held their own. They are a strong and aggressive team. It is a great club, historically one of the best known and strongest, and it is a pleasure to compete with them.”
Barca's first Champions League group stage fixture will come on Sept. 14, when the Catalan giants will host Bayern in a rematch of their 2019-2020 Champions League quarterfinal fixture.
In the meantime, Barcelona will have a pair of key La Liga matchups upcoming, which will come against Getafe and Sevilla.
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