Opposition watch | FC Barcelona

Our final pre-season match takes us to Montjuic, Barcelona and an intriguing test against La Liga champions Barcelona this evening (7pm UK).

Led by legendary former midfielder Xavi, Barca won their first title since 2018/19 in impressive style, fully 10 points clear of rivals Real Madrid.

Now we face the Catalan giants for the Joan Gamper Trophy in new surroundings of the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys - where Linford Christie won 100m gold in the 1992 Olympic Games and the former home of Espanyol - while the Nou Camp is undergoing renovation.

Form

Having won La Liga with four games to spare in 2022/23, Barcelona were on their travels to the USA in pre-season with friendlies against Arsenal, Real Madrid and AC Milan. They kicked-off with a 5-3 loss against the Gunners in Los Angeles before recovering in style with a 3-0 win against Real Madrid as Ousmane Dembele, Fermin Lopez and Ferran Torres were on target in Arlington, Texas. The final leg of their Soccer Champions Tour took them to Las Vegas, where they beat Milan 1-0, Ansu Fati with the winner. Tonight represents their final pre-season match before their La Liga opener against Getafe on Sunday.

Manager

One of the all-time great midfielders, Xavi took over at the Nou Camp in November, 2021. Joining the club's La Masia academy aged 11, Xavi went on to make 767 appearances for Barca, forming one of the best midfield units ever seen alongside Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets. He won 32 trophies including eight La Ligas and four Champions Leagues alongside multiple individual awards, including being named in the FIFA FIFPro World XI on six occasions. Xavi was also capped 133 times by Spain and key in a golden period for the country as they won the Euros in 2008, the World Cup in 2010 and Euro 2012.

Players to watch

As you'd expect, Barca are packed full of talent from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen through to striker Robert Lewandowski, now 34, who rattled in 33 goals in 46 appearances in his first season at the Nou Camp. Look out for young Spanish internationals Gavi (19 years old, 21 caps), Pedri (20, 18 caps) and Ansu Fati (20, nine caps) while summer arrivals include a familiar face in Ilkay Gundogan, who won the lot at Manchester City.

Last time we met

Lucas Moura's 85th-minute equaliser earned a crucial point in the Nou Camp to send us through to the last 16 of the Champions League in December, 2018. Knowing we had to better or match Inter Milan's result against PSV Einhoven, we went behind to Ousmane Dembele's early strike seven minutes in but Moura's leveller gave us hope as players and fans waited with bated breath at full-time with Inter still playing at 1-1 in the closing stages. But it proved enough, as we recovered from collecting one point from our first three matches to progress from Group B and all the way to the final. We've also featured in the Joan Gamper Trophy before - but not against Barca. Hosted at the Nou Camp in 1986, we lost on penalties to PSV before beating Milan 2-1 thanks to Gary Mabbutt's header in front of 89,000 to finish third. The Catalan hosts beat PSV to lift the pre-season trophy on that occasion. 

How to watch

Tuesday's match will be televised live on SPURSPLAY, our home of exclusive live and on-demand video content. Join us for the build-up from the stadium from 6.10pm (UK time).

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