Being humble remains the key for Josep Guardiola as his FC Barcelona side look to make history by winning a second successive UEFA Champions League title, with FC Dynamo Kyiv their next guests on Tuesday. Dynamo come into the tie top of Group F having defeated FC Rubin Kazan 3-1 on Matchday 1, while Barcelona are looking for their first goal having been held to a 0-0 draw at FC Internazionale Milano.
Quotes
Josep Guardiola, Barcelona coach
Thierry Henry won’t play. He has a left thigh injury which will keep him out for six or seven days. Iniesta will be in the team [after a thigh injury]. He’s much better now and that’s good news for us. If there is one team that isn’t favourite to win the title, then it’s us because no one has won the Champions League two years in a row. We have confidence after winning the competition last year, but we know we have to work hard for it again like we did last season. By being humble we were able to win, but you have to prove that every day, that’s what football is about. I haven’t spoken to [Barcelona’s former FC Shakhtar Donetsk defender] Chygrynskiy yet about Dynamo. They are top of their domestic league and have very good players such as Shevchenko and Gusev. They are tactically astute under Gazzaev.
Valeri Gazzaev, Dynamo coach
We had a day’s rest to prepare for the match against FC Barcelona; we trained and saw how Barcelona play and we’re ready now for the match. On Tuesday Andriy Shevchenko will be 33. He’s doing fine and I hope he will be in the starting XI. He was here 12 years ago. It’ll be interesting for him to play and interesting for the crowd to see him play here. Shevchenko is an extraordinary player; one of the best players in the UEFA Champions League. He has a lot of experience and we have a young enough team so that experience is vital. I don’t know if Barcelona take Dynamo seriously, but tomorrow they will see how well we have prepared.
* Dynamo have scored in each of their last 23 Premier League fixtures, a run stretching back to a 1-0 loss at FC Shakhtar Donetsk on 16 November 2008.
* Dynamo are 15 matches unbeaten in all competitions, winning 13 since Shakhtar defeated them in the last four of Ukrainian Cup on 13 May.
Team news
* Barcelona
Out: Gabriel Milito (knee), Bojan Krkic’ (thigh), Thierry Henry (thigh)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none
* Dynamo
Out: Artem Kravets (thigh), Taras Mikhalik (knee), Olexandr Rybka (ankle), Badr El Kaddouri (ankle), Andriy Nesmachniy (knee)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none
Background
* The clubs have met eight times previously with Barcelona winning four and Dynamo three.
* Dynamo would be delighted with a repeat of their last result at the Camp Nou, a 4-0 triumph in the UEFA Champions League group stage on 5 November 1997. Andriy Shevchenko was the hero with a first-half hat-trick.
* Barcelona’s most recent victory against Dynamo came in the 1993/94 first round when they overturned a 3-1 first-leg deficit with a 4-1 home success through goals from Michael Laudrup, José Maria Bakero (2) and Ronald Koeman.
Did you know?
As a player, Barcelona coach Guardiola featured in home and away wins for the Catalan club against Dynamo in the group stage of the 1991/92 European Champion Clubs’ Cup. Guardiola was also in the Barcelona team that beat Dynamo in the first round two seasons later.
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