Evening all - it is evening, right? - and welcome to Barcelona v Slavia Prague!

Nothing whatsoever to do with football, but not bad.

Oh, and Barca's subs...

In fact it's hard to look beyond Liverpool and Manchester City when seeking potential winners. Juventus also have a good chance, and in a cup competition plenty can happen, but those three look the best placed. City's best is the best but their defence is a joke, while Liverpool and Juve have less flair but greater solidity.

Obviously Barca have the players to beat anyone on a good day, but it's hard not to think this team are forever scared after consecutive collapses against Roma and Liverpool. When their defence needs to strong stand, there's no reason for its members to think it possible.

I don't know about you, but these always get me going.

Oh, and thern there's Pique. He's fine for most games, but now he's not playing in a team that denies opponents the ball, and now he's lost whatever pace he has, is he good enough against the best? I daresay the better strikers will look to play on him.

I wonder where Barca are going. They've got the bones of a team deserving of Messi, but it just doesn't look like they've got the right manager. Does he know how to drill fast, attacking football, or which players will make it happen for themselves? Is he brave enough to replace Busquets with a more attacking player? Will he give Dembele the confidence he needs, via a run in the team?

Slavia, meanwhile, are a mere nine points clear at the top of the Czech first league after 15 games. They beat Banik 4-0 at the weekend - remember them, Dr Jozef Venglos fans? - and are nice and settled.

This final change is the interesting one. Griezmann has improved recently and, let's be real Suarez is finished influencing games on the reg. Obviously he can still do good stuff, but his lack of gas is holding this team back and tonight's front three is far more sensible.

Barce makes three changes from their weekend defeat at Levante. Jordi alba continues his comeback from injury, replacing Sergi Roberto; Vidal comes in for Arthur, who is rested; and Dembele takes Suarez's place. I'm guessing he'll play on the right and the Griezmann the left, though it's possible he plays left, Messi right and Griezmann central.

Let's have some teams...

A win tonight and Barca are more or less through. It's hard to see another outcome, but worth remembering that Slavia haven't folded against anyone, taking a point off Inter and pushing their hosts all the way last time out. Somehow, Barca are top of La Liga, but they look just as much a mess as they did in winning it last year - they don't really have a style, never mind one that fits their players - they just have a lot of good ones and the very best one.