Reasons to believe in Barcelona's Champions League miracle and hope of reaching the knockout stages – Xavi replies

Barcelona coach Xavi is refusing to give up hope of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League, even if he accepts his side faces an almighty challenge to advance to the last 16. FC Bayern hosts FC Barcelona in their first home match of the 2022/23 Champions League on Wednesday night. Barca faces being eliminated from the competition in the group stage in successive seasons heading into Wednesday's home tie with Bayern Munich. Xavi's side will be unable to progress should they lose or if Inter beat bottom side Viktoria Plzen, while they will also be eliminated should both games be drawn. The Catalan giants will be aware of their fate ahead of kick-off at Camp Nou as Inter host Plzen earlier in the day, but Xavi insists that the result will not impact his team selection. "We will all watch the game together in the locker room," Xavi said at Tuesday's pre-match news conference. "Regardless of what happens, we want to show we can compete.
"I already decided on the line-up on Monday, except for any injuries that occur. This is all regardless of what happens in the Inter game." Barcelona coach continued, "We must not lose our mental focus, after losing the Clasico, it looked like a disaster, and we recovered the feelings by winning against Villarreal and Bilbao and with a good performance. We have to continue with that, and show that we can compete against clubs like Bayern."
Barcelona is in third place in the Champions League group C table, with 4 points from 4 rounds, winning one match, drawing in the same, and losing two matches.