Tuesday 23rd February 20.45 GMT
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German giants VfB Stuttgart will face title holders FC Barcelona in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League at the Mercedes-Benz Arena stadium on February 23.
The Germans should normally not fear anything ahead of this clash despite the undeniable strength of the defending European champions. They qualified into this stage after holding on to the second place in Group G, finishing with 9 points following 2 wins, 3 draws, and a loss.
Stuttgart were only able to grab half of their points in the group stage of the Champions League; yet, their statistics aren’t too bad, as they could still force their way through the knockout phase above Scottish giants Rangers, and new comers Unirea Urziceni.
Stuttgart won 5 Bundesliga matches in a row between the 19th of December 2009 and the 6th of February 2010; and for sure, this shows how set they are to take on the Spanish League leaders.
On one hand, Barcelona are lucky to play their first-leg encounter against Stuttgart away from home, as scoring away goals is always a big bonus in competitions such as the UEFA Champions League.
Barcelona are the reigning champions of this competition, thus, they wouldn’t want to see their road to glory get disturbed by their German opponents in the Round of 16. In order to resume their road to success, Barca need nothing but a win at the Mercedes-Benz Arena stadium so as to ensure that the return-leg encounter at the Camp Nou will be much more secured.
On the other hand, Barcelona are not all that fortunate to fight against Stuttgart as the visitors in their first-leg game.
There were signs of unhappiness at the FC Barcelona camp a few days ago, as some of their great stars – counting Dani Alves, Yaya Toure, and Eric Abidal – were forced out of action because of injuries.
Sadly, Barcelona’s misfortune now seems to have grown bigger, seeing that their influential midfielder Xavi Hernandez, along with his Malian club mate Seydou Keita have both been considered unfit for the Champions League encounter.
Xavi Hernandez’s injury is expected to keep him out for about 15 days, while Keita is said to resume his work at the club only after 3 weeks, at least.
Both players obtained their wounds at the weekend in their side’s unsatisfactory 2-1 defeat against Atletico Madrid; hence, they now join the list of inactive players – modifying the plans of their manager Pep Guardiola, and increasing the load of work on Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andres Iniesta.
Fans are currently waiting to receive valuable comfort after their team’s first defeat in La Liga on February 14. Irrefutably, Guardiola himself knows that shocks before big games are always strong warnings, and because Barcelona were disappointed by their loss away to the Calderon Stadium at the weekend, realizing a wish will be Pep’s principal aim on February 23.
Anything less than an advantageous score line away to Stuttgart will cause nothing but a big blow to Barca supporters; who would then start envisioning an unwanted exit from the Champions League.
Stuttgart and Barcelona: Head to Head
Stuttgart and Barcelona have met twice in the Champions League, and that was back in 2007, when the likes of Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o were powering the Catalan side. Unfortunately, on both occasions, Barcelona turned out to be winners.
2 October, 2007: Stuttgart 0-2 Barcelona 12 December, 2007: Barcelona 3-1 Stuttgart
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