The fact that Bayern were thrashed by Wolfsburg is no comfort for Barcelona to the build up of this match. As some of the Bayern players revealed, both are different type of games. Gerrard Pique pointed out the important of keeping a clean sheet against Bayern to progress to the next stage. But realistically speaking that could be one hell of a task. No one disagrees to the fact that we need to win this match really well. And to do that Barca's midfield needs to dominate the entire game. The duo of Iniesta and Xavi has to start in the middle and we need all our players to be on top of their game. Bayern was in excellent form in the first knock-out stage scoring 12 goals against a hapless Sporting Lisbon team. FC Barcelona start this game as clear favourite but seeing what happened in Old Trafford last night there is no room for complecency. Bayern is facing a crisis in the defensive department. Their main defender Lucio is expected to miss this game due to the injury he picked up against Wolfsburg. Already Klose was declared unfit for this game. But still the likes of Lahm and Ribery on the left could give Dani Alves a torrid time defending. Everyone expect Toni and Podolski to start the match up front.
Guardiola has named a 19 member squad for tonight's clash. Hleb and Toure returns back into the squad. The squad list - Valdés, Pinto, Alves, Puyol, Marquez, Piqué, Caceres, Sylvinho, Toure, Busquets, Xavi, Keita, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Hleb, Messi, Bojan, Eto'o, Henry. There may not be any surprise in the line-up for tonight's match. Guardiola is expected to line-up a defensive formation of Alves, Marquez, Pique and Puyol ahead of Valdes. The midfield which will be the most crucial in Barca's plan has to be Iniesta, Toure and Xavi. Messi, Eto and Henry should form the attacking trio. It's been some time we have seen Messi in full flow. The style of Bayern's game will give him space to showcase his skills. It is very much important for Barca to atatck Bayern from the word go. If we succeed in dominating possession we will definitely come through the Bayern challenge. I expect a very competitive game with Barca emerging victorious with a margin of 3-1.