Barcelona will look to seize control of Group H when it takes on AC Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday.
The Spanish giants have seven points in three games thanks to a 4-0 win over Ajax Amsterdam, a 1-0 win over Celtic and a 1-1 draw with AC Milan in Italy. The team has depended heavily on Lionel Messi thus far (he has five goals for Barca in this tournament), but may have to look elsewhere for offensive support as the Argentinean continues to slump.
Messi only scored once in October (the game against Milan) and has looked ineffective on the pitch in recent games. Despite the sub-par performances, Coach Gerardo Martino remains positive about his star player.
"It's very tough playing against sides that defend with five men in front of a bank of four. You have to be extremely accurate. We are getting on the ball, but we are lacking the finesse to score more goals. When the match changed, we created two clear chances," Martino said, according to Marca. "He's not desperate. He'd love to carry on doing what he normally does, scoring two, three or four goals in every game, but he's set the bar so high that now when he doesn't score, it gets treated like a problem", he concluded.
AC Milan needs a win to pull ahead of Barcelona and clear some distance from a surging Celtic.
Prediction: Barcelona wins 3-0. Messi scores two goals.
Start Time: Kick-off starts at 2:45 p.m. EST
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