Aston Villa will be aiming to continue their perfect start to life in the Champions League this season as they travel to Spain for a showdown with reigning La Liga champions Barcelona

Aston Villa’s perfect Champions League start will be given its most severe examination so far in Tuesday evening’s clash with Barcelona.

Unai Emery’s men travel to Catalonia off the back of three successive wins in Europe - Viking, Fenerbahce and Club Brugge all having been downed so far.

Villa, however, come into the game off the back of a somewhat tricky week, having been ousted from the Carabao Cup by Bournemouth. They were then held by Fulham over the weekend, with Zion Suzuki’s own-goal seeing a share of the points after Nicolas Jackson had opened the scoring.

Villa then will be keen to get back on track against Barcelona. And fortunately, boss Emery appears to have a near fully-fit squad to choose from for the trip to Spain.

Long-term absentee Amadou Onana remains restricted to the sidelines with his knee injury, while defender Matteo Ruggeri is still struggling with a thigh issue and is expected to be ruled out until at least December.

Right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka picked up his own issue last month and has missed the last four games in all competitions and looks highly likely to remain ruled out for the clash with Barcelona.

On the topic of the Spanish side, they have a number of problems to deal with before they welcome Villa. Youngster Roony Bardghji sustained a cruciate ligament injury in August and is expected to miss the remainder of the campaign.

Meanwhile, attacking midfielder Dani Olmo is expected to be sidelined for around a month with an adductor injury.

It’s in defence where Barcelona boss Hansi Flick has the most serious headache though. Eric Garcia has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since mid-October and while the former Manchester City man is edging towards full fitness, Tuesday evening’s game might come too soon.

The same could also be said for French centre-back Jules Kounde, who has been dealing with an ankle sprain. The defensive issues don’t end there.

Ex-Chelsea man Andreas Christensen has also been out for a couple of weeks with a muscular injury and while he too is closing in on a return, Flick may choose not to risk the defender.

Xavi Espart also looks likely to be ruled out until at least mid-December with an ankle injury, meaning four defenders in all could be out of contention.