Barcelona will look to avoid a third successive defeat when they travel to Ajax in the group stages of the Champions League on Wednesday.

The Spanish outfit have lost their last two league matches, with defeats to Real Madrid and Celta Vigo seeing Luis Enrique's side relinquish top spot in La Liga.

In the Champions League, meanwhile, it has also been far from plain sailing, with one defeat from their three games leaving them second in Group F.

That said, following their 3-1 win over Ajax in the reverse match, Barcelona would qualify for the knockout stages of the competition with three points in Amsterdam, should APOEL fail to beat Paris Saint-Germain in the group's other match.

Barcelona's last trip to Ajax ended in disappointment, however, with the Dutch side winning 2-1 during last season's group stages. The Spanish team have also won just two of their last nine European matches on the road, losing five times in the process.

Defeat for Ajax, meanwhile, would leave them on the brink of elimination. They have picked up just two points from their three group matches, but their home record against Spanish teams is strong, with nine wins from 17 matches.

The home side will also enter the match off the back of a thumping 4-0 win over Urk in the Dutch Cup at the weekend.

Ajax are expected to be without midfielder Thulani Sereno, while Viktor Fischer is still unavailable for the Dutch outfit.

The home side have no fresh injury concerns, however, meaning that Lasse Schone, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Arkadiusz Milik should all start.

The visitors, meanwhile, will be without the services of Jeremy Mathieu, who picked up a calf injury in the defeat to Celta. Meanwhile, Andres Iniesta will also miss out with a calf problem and Jordi Alba is struggling with a muscular complaint.

Luis Suarez should make his Champions League debut for the Catalan outfit, but Gerard Pique is once more expected to sit out, with Marc Bartra favourite to start in central defence alongside Javier Mascherano.

Recent form

Ajax: DDLWW

Barcelona: LWWWL

Possible starting lineups

Ajax: Cillessen; Van Rhijn, Moisander, Veltman, Viergever; Andersen, Klaassen, Zimling; Schone, Sigthorsson, Milik

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Bartra, Mascherano, Adriano; Busquets, Rakitic, Xavi; Neymar, Messi, Suarez

Sports Mole says: 1-2