Thomas Muller has laid down the gauntlet to former team-mate Robert Lewandowski as the pair prepare to face off at Camp Nou.
Lewandowski left Bayern Munich for Barcelona over the summer, having scored 50 goals in his final season in Germany.
The Polish striker was supposed to help make Barca contenders for the Champions League trophy, but defeat on Wednesday would consign them to the Europa League despite their new number nine going into the game as the competition's joint-highest scorer.
Bayern have won all four games and are already assured of a place in the knockout stages. Their opponents cannot expect them to go easy, though, as Muller has hinted.
"Lewy, we're coming," Muller said in a video shared on social media. The clip shows the German international and a number of his teammates in good spirits ahead of the clash in Catalunya.
Lewandowski scored a hat-trick in his first Champions League appearance for Barcelona back in September, helping lead his new club to a 5-1 win at home to Viktoria Plzen. However, he then drew blanks in away defeats against Bayern and Inter Milan as Xavi's team lost ground.
A double from the 34-year-old was only enough for a draw at home to Inter. The result means that, even if Barca beat Bayern, a win for Inter at home to Plzen would see the LaLiga side eliminated.
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“I am positive and you know me. But we don’t depend on ourselves, that’s the unfortunate bit," manager Xavi told Marca ahead of the Bayern game (via Football Espana ).
"When you don’t depend on yourself, you’re not so positive anymore. The situation is uncomfortable but we have to go out and win. It’s true we are not as positive though, but that is human and logical to be so.
“In general, I have the feeling that we have had it in our hands and now it is not up to us. So they are our mistakes.”
Barcelona were also eliminated in the group stages last year, though Xavi only took over partway through the campaign. They scored just two goals in six matches in the competition, with a defeat away at Bayern in the final group game - a match in which Muller opened the scoring - sealing the deal.
While things are looking uncomfortable in Europe, there have at least been more positive signs in the league as far as the Catalan club are concerned. A 4-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao over the weekend kept them in touch with Real Madrid at the top after the teams were separated by a massive 13 points in the 2021-22 season.
