Barça look for a good result in Paris in Champions League quarter final first leg (20.45 CET). Xavi and Jordi Alba back for the game, with FC Barcelona’s Boss Tito Vilanova also in Paris with the team. Ibrahimovic is the big threat for PSG, who haven’t lost at home in Europe for seven years.
Barça have been drawn to play PSG in the last eight of the Champions League. The first leg will be played in Paris’s Parc des Princes on the 2nd of April and the return game will be in Barcelona’s Camp Nou on the 10th of April. The Parisian outfit has made it into the quarter finals for the first time in 19 years after spending 240 million euros in two seasons. The other matches are Real Madrid vs Galatasaray, Bayern Munich vs Juventus and Málaga vs Borussia Dortmund.
The Blaugrana will play exhibition matches in Shanghai on the 4th of August, Bangkok on the 7th of August and Kuala Lumpur on the 10th of August. However, the names of the teams facing Barça have not been revealed yet. It will be the second FC Barcelona’s Asia Tour after that of summer 2010. Barça will firstly play against Guardiola’s Bayern Munich on the 24th of July, for charity purposes. Furthermore, the Catalan team might play on Tel Aviv on the 31st of July with a Israel and Palestine side in order to support peace and understanding, although this has not been confirmed yet.
Barça have beaten AC Milan in style to extend their legend by becoming the first team to qualify for five consecutive semi finals in the Champions League era. Messi, with two penalties, and Iniesta got the Barça goals.
Barça need to beat AC Milan at the Camp Nou in order to qualify for the semi finals of the Champions League for the fifth consecutive season. FC Barcelona will only make it into the semi finals if they beat AC Milan at the Camp Nou (20.45h CET). 88% of the home results this season would be enough to ensure Barça go into the last four.
Barça took a 0-0 draw from Milan at the San Siro on Wednesday evening - leaving the return game at the Camp Nou to decide who gets through to the Champions League semi-final. AC Milan were hemmed into their own half, especially before the break and at the end of the game.
The Catalan Manager believes that the AC Milan vs FC Barcelona Champions League quarter-final match will test Barça’s resolve “to perform well in another tie”. He hopes to “have long spells of ball possession” to deactivate Ibrahimovic and the Italian’s offensive play, as they are “one of the best teams in the world”.
Goals from Van Bommel (o.g.), Messi (pen), and Xavi, defeated AC Milan in a fantastic match, and Barça come away from the San Siro Stadium with the first place in the group mathematically secure. Ibrahimovic and Boateng twice leveled the score, which could have been greater in Barça’s favour.
Who tops the Champions League group to be decided at San Siro. A Barça win would mathematically mean they finish top with one game to play. Alves, Iniesta, Adriano, Cassano and Gattuso amongst the players out.
The Barça goalkeeper has said that it was his manager who taught him a number of things on a tactical level. Valdés also denied that there are any problems between Villa and Messi, and feels the comments were intended to destabilise the team.