Today, at 2:45 p.m. ET, two powerhouses that have never squared off before will do so when Barcelona takes on Ajax Amsterdam in UEFA Champions League Group H action. The match can be live streamed here.
These two teams have never played in competition before, but it will all change when both sides take the field today.
One player under the spotlight for Barcelona will be Lionel Messi, as he looks to help the team fend off Ajax this afternoon.
Though these teams have never crossed paths, they are linked as 14 players have left Ajax to play for Barca over the years, and six players have done the reverse. One such player to defect from Ajax to Barca was Johan Cruyff , who jumped ship in 1973 and was a three-time player of the year.
Cruyff won't be one of the many former players in attendance today as he's had a rocky relationship with both squads.
"I will support Ajax," Cruyff said per ESPN. "I have had some differences with Barca's president, and I will not set foot in the Camp Nou as long as he is there."
Barcelona will be without two important players this afternoon as defender Jordi Alba suffered a hamstring injury Saturday in the team's victory over Sevilla and will miss up to three weeks while club captain Carles Puyol is still recovering from knee surgery.
Gerardo Martino enters this game in his first year at the helm and is hoping to avoid any controversies with any of his stars and it's one of his major objectives heading into his first Champions League as coach of Barca. Martino knows expectations are sky high for his team after Barca won the competition in 2006, 2009 and 2011.
"There's always a prioritization of the tournaments you're involved in," Martino said, according to ESPN. "I feel that Barcelona have to win this competition. When I took on the Barcelona job, I knew that if we didn't win a title this season it would be a failure."
Barca is coming off of back-to-back 3-2 victories, but is looking to tighten up defensively as the team wasn't happy with the two goals it gave up in each of the past two matches.
"We have spoken about what has happened in the last two league games, especially in the second halves," Martino told ESPN.
Ajax coach Frank de Boer is excited to lead his team into this matchup, though he knows the team needs to do better than it has recently if it's going to survive this match.
In its last six games heading into the match, Ajax has won three, lost one and endured draws in two. The team struggled through a victory over PEC Zwolle over the weekend, prompting de Boer to admit that Messi won't be too scared to face off against his team with a performance like that.
"If Messi has seen these images of us, I doubt he'll be too concerned," de Boer told ESPN following the weekend match.
Two teams with plenty of history off the field will meet for the first time on it this afternoon with aspirations of victory in clear sight.
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