Barring a major upset, Barcelona should book their place in the next round of the Champions League against Viktoria Plzeň in an historic night for the Catalan club on Tuesday with plenty to celebrate.
“If we win, we should get to the quarter finals and we will be able to relax until February,” commented Barca manager Josep Guardiola after arriving in Prague yesterday.
The headlines, however, could be grabbed by Barca striker Lionel Messi if he succeeds in adding just one goal to reach the 200 total for the Catalan club.
In a spirited away leg two weeks ago, in their first ever meeting, the Czech champions kept Barcelona down to just two goals, though there should have been at least twice that total. Barca’s second goal only came in after 82 minutes, with the Czech side until then holding onto the chance that they could snatch a surprise equalizer.
‘If we perform beyond our limits and a have a bit of luck we might be able to get a point.’
This time around Viktoria Plzeň are still hoping that they can pull off a minor miracle and get a draw. “Of course, we respect the great strengths of Barcelona, but I think that we can play football as well,” captain Pavel Horváth told the daily Sport. “We will try to give everything that we have. If we perform beyond our limits and a have a bit of luck, we might be able to get a point.”
Horváth also joked that his team’s best chance might be if they won the toss and took a quick shot at the goal from the start. The sobering statistic from the first leg at Camp Nou was that while containing Barca’s rampages, Plzeň managed not a single shot on goal and have only scored once in the Champions League group stage so far.
Horváth and Plzeň manager Pavel Vrba promise a more attacking Czech side at home, but admit that any attempt at an end-to-end confrontation with the Catalan side would be suicide.
Viktoria Plzeň goalkeeper Roman Pavlík has a personal mission to shut out star Barca attacker Messi and delay his 200-goal milestone until after the Prague match. “I know that Messi scored a hat trick against Mallorca [in the Spanish league]. But one of the goals was from the penalty spot, so it is not that bad,” he told Sport.
‘I know that he is only one short of his 200th goal in a Barcelona shirt, but I believe that I will not allow it.’
“I know that he is only one short of his 200th goal in a Barcelona shirt, but I believe that I will not allow it,” Pavlík added.
Barca won the Spanish league game 5:0 and are undefeated in their last five games. Plzeň also put five goals in the net to no reply in the Czech league against Hradec Králové after beating Viktoria Žižkov 4 :1 in the preceding league game.
But while goals have been plentiful in the Czech league for Plzeň, they have been in short supply in the Champions League. Even getting one goal against Barcelona would be a powerful pick-up for Plzeň ahead of its crucial away game against Belarus champions BATE Borisov on Nov. 22.
That encounter, which ended in a 1:1 draw in the opening group game, should decide whether the Czech Champions can corner the third place in the group and at least go into the Europa League group stage.
With or without Messi’s 200th goal, Barcelona history will be written on Tuesday night when Guardiola takes his place on the bench. It will be his 200th game in charge of the club as manager. His players are not likely to have missed the landmark and should make sure there is something to celebrate.
