Defending champions Barcelona won the seemingly one of the easiest opponent for the placement in the quarterfinals. Bayer’s name is not awe-inspiring like some other, but the warning to Catalans is definitely the fact that the German team won all three group matches at home (Chelsea, Valencia, Genk)…

However, domestic form in the Bundesliga in recent times and it’s not so impressive. Bayer has won one of the last six games at the BayArena, and special care for Robin Dutt is inefficient (28 goals in 21 league games).

Josep Guardiola said he knows from where the greatest danger threatening: “My biggest concern is that I know Bayer, I am aware of its virtues. They will be stronger than us when we are not in possession of the ball. This will lead to our expulsion of the ball in out or in a corner. And they are very dangerous in the air. If we do not control the game, we’ll be in trouble.”

Dutt will not be able to count on the experienced Michael Ballack who was injured in training on Sunday, and were written off and Derdiyok and Sidney Sam. On the other side, Xavi and Andres Iniesta should be fresh as they did not feature in the defeat of Osasuna 3-2 on Saturday, while Cesc Fabregas played 20 minutes.

German strategist is aware of who his team has for the opponents: “Its certainly we are looking forward to a duel, although it would be better to play with Barca at a later stage of the competition,” – he joked, adding: “For us it was a great success to pass a difficult group, and now is really something special to host Barcelona, ​​not only because of their success in last years, but due to the type of soccer they play. So, this will probably be the biggest challenge we may face.”

SOCCER-MAGAZINE.COM prediction:

-FC Barcelona win (8/10)

-FC Barcelona win with 2 or more goal difference (6/10)

-Bayer Leverkusen not to score (7/10)

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