Make no mistake about it, when Barcelona take to the field against Dynamo Kyiv on Wednesday evening, they do so in the knowledge that it will be their most important Champions League tie ever.
There is simply no margin for error, given that they remain bottom of their group and with a 0-6 goal difference.
Given that it’s highly unlikely they’ll have enough about them to beat Bayern Munich later in the group stages, the two games against the Ukrainians and the return against Benfica are where the Catalans must pick up sufficient points to enable them to finish second in the group.
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As such, anything less than three points on Wednesday will be a disaster, and will surely spell the beginning of the end for Ronald Koeman at the club.
Joan Laporta simply cannot countenance missing out on approximately €70-80m for not qualifying to the knockout stages, and with Pedri, Eric Garcia, Ousmane Dembele, Ronald Araujo and Martin Braithwaite all out, it’s a tall order against a team who love to attack.
A morale-boosting win over Valencia at the weekend couldn’t have been more timely, and Barca will need the same effort and application to ensure that they can kickstart their European campaign.