Ronald Koeman has warned his team there is no margin for error against Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday night.
Barcelona head into their third Champions League group stage against the Ukrainian outfit having failed to pick up any points so far.
Defeats against Bayern Munich and Benfica have left Ronald Koeman’s men bottom of the group after the club’s worst ever start in this competition.
And so a win is a must against Kyiv as Barca also look to continue to build momentum ahead of this weekend’s Clásico against Real Madrid following a win over Valencia last time out.
Koeman is well aware of that, too, telling his men they simply must win on Wednesday night.
“It’s a decisive game. We have to win to have the option of getting through the group,” he said in his pre-match press conference.
“It depends on circumstances and where the team is, but it’s normal to demand the quarter finals, semi finals or the finals. It’s not the moment to think about this. The first step is the game tomorrow.”
Barcelona still have to play Bayern away from home during this group stage campaign, and so they can be forgiven for believing there are realistically only nine points left for them to pick up.
Already four behind Benfica, that is a real problem if they cannot win the games against Kyiv, as well as the one against Benfica.
Failure to progress from the group would be a huge problem for Koeman, and indeed Barca as a club given their financial struggles.
