Barcelona are regarded as one of the best teams in world football, while Leicester City may be considered as an upcoming team, who grabbed the spotlight last season, winning the English Premier League title. The English champions have a stern test in their preseason campaign, as they face Spanish giants Barcelona at Friends Arena in Stockholm on Wednesday.
The stage cannot get any bigger for Leicester, who will be keen to come up with an impressive performance against Barcelona. The Spanish side have some of the world's best players including, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Aleix Vidal. However, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Ivan Rakitic did not travel with the team.
If the big stars of Barcelona come up with their A game, it will be difficult for Leicester to come close to winning. It is always a treat to watch the likes of Messi and Suarez link in the final third and score goals with grace. Fans in Sweden will love to witness the magic skills of the Messi and Suarez, who played a huge hand in helping Barcelona win the title last season.
Barcelona, irrespective of being in a friendly mood ahead of the long season ahead, have a winning mentality, which was witnessed in their last match against Celtic, resulting in 3-1 win. Their manager Luis Enrique will not accept any results besides a victory.
Leicester must be aware of the tough task that lie ahead. They were not able to bring their A game against PSG in their last friendly, which they lost 4-0. Though it might just have been a pre-season fixture, they would have loved to emerge triumphant. Leicester have got a huge chance to end their preseason campaign, defeating Barcelona. With striker Jamie Vardy expected to feature in the friendly, the manager will want him to shine straightaway.
Manager, Claudio Ranieri felt it was a good experience to play a team like PSG before the EPL season started, but the Italian will want an improved performance from his team in Sweden.
"I think it's a good experience for us. PSG is a good team that is building to win the Champions League. They have a big squad with big players and for our players it was a good experience. They are a little ahead of us in their preparation (for the season). We wanted to press them, but it was difficult," said Ranieri.
"When you go to press and you don't arrive at the right time, they move the ball quickly away from you. Maybe if we had scored a goal when we had the chance at the start of the second half, maybe we can change something, but it was a good, good experience. A bad result, but I think we can improve from this defeat."
This match could prove to be the best practice game for Leicester ahead of the Community Shield, against Manchester United on Sunday.
Leicester City squad
Schmeichel, Hernandez, Simpson, Huth, Morgan, Chilwell, Fuchs, Mahrez, Gray, Amartey, Drinkwater, Mendy, King, Zieler, Schlupp, Albrighton, Ulloa, Okazaki, Musa, Vardy.
Barcelona squad
Masip, Tello, Vidal, Gil, Mathieu, Mesa, D. Suarez, Roberto, Turan, Messi, L. Suarez, Munir, Samper, Borges, J. A Suarez, Barbosa, Lopez, Carbonell, Gumau, Alena, Martinez, Ligero, Mujica.
Where to watch live
Barcelona vs Leicester City friendly is set to begin at 8 p.m. local time (7 p.m. BST, 11.30 p.m. IST, 2 p.m. ET). Below is the TV and live streaming information from around the world.
India: TV: Sony ESPN. Live Streaming: Sonyliv.
UK: TV: Sky Sports 1/HD. Live streaming: Sky Go.
USA: TV: ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Live Streaming: Watch ESPN.
Spain: TV: TV3.
Canada: TV: TSN2. Live Streaming: TSN TV.
Thailand: TV: PPTV.
Singapore: TV: Starhub and Bein Sports.
China: TV: Guangdong Sports.
