Will Puyol and Barca fly into a first leg lead?(credit:
toksuede)
The holders no bigger than 8/11 to win in Germany on Tuesday night
Pep Guardiola’s team were not exactly convincing during the group stages of this season’s Champions League, with the surprise package that were Rubin Kazan pulling off a shock win at the Nou Camp. Nevertheless, Barca came through unscathed and they appear to have drawn the plum tie in the last sixteen of the competition.
Boylesports offer a best price 8/11 that they win this first leg tie, despite that fact that the Spanish champions are the away team. Conversely, Paddy Power are willing to go 9/2 that VfB Stuttgart are victorious at the Gottlieb-Daimler, with the Bundesliga team enduring a season of struggle.
Nevertheless, Felix Magath’s team warmed up nicely for this match with a 5-1 win away to Cologne and five victories from the six matches played since the winter break indicates a change in fortunes.
Striker Cacau was red-hot at the weekend, banging in four goals including a first-half hat-trick, and the Brazilian-born German international is 9/1 (bet365) to open the scoring against the holders. Russian international Pavel Pogrebnyak was also on the scoresheet and he’s on offer at 8/1 (Ladbrokes) to break the deadlock and give Barcelona plenty to think about.
Barca suffered a setback in La Liga in their last away match when losing 2-1 away to Atletico Madrid, although Saturday’s 4-0 win over Racing means they have now scored 57 goals in 23 league matches this season.
Thierry Henry was on the scoresheet at the weekend and the Frenchman is 7/1 (Ladbrokes) on the First Goalscorer list for Tuesday’s match, although it’s so often Lionel Messi (9/2 Ladbrokes) that shines on the European stage and the visitors are a tempting 9/5 chance (Blue Square) to lead at half-time and full-time.