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Team News

In the most bizarre of accidents that can occur to a footballer before a vital match, Eren Derdiyok stepped on a shard of glass in his residence and cut his foot. He required stitches and will thus miss this match. Sidney Sam, who had just returned from injury, was injured against Dortmund and has been ruled out for two months.

Michael Ballack sustained a calf problem in training on Sunday and will not take part in the match even though whether he would have started anyways is doubtful. Long term injury victim Tranquillo Barnetta will not feature either.

For Barcelona, Sergio Busquets has been included in the squad despite having only returned to training recently. David Villa and Ibrahim Afellay will not feature due to injuries.

Form

Both Leverkusen and Barcelona haven’t been in excellent form. Barcelona has dropped points to a number of oppositions this season, leading to Real Madrid putting ten points in between themselves and their Catalonian rivals. The Classico might come to count for little in terms of the destination of the La Liga title if Barca does not pick up their form soon.

For Leverkusen, a series of draws has left them in trouble as far as qualification for next season’s Champions League is concerned. Robin Dutt’s hiring was supposed to ensure the continuation of Leverkusen’s rise up the Bundesliga which started two seasons ago. However, Leverkusen is losing more and more ground on the top four with each passing match-day.

Leverkusen however did defend well in their last match, despite losing to Dortmund. They allowed Dortmund to score only once but couldn’t conjure much magic in Dortmund’s penalty area. Prior to this match, Leverkusen’s problem had been the defence. Dutt has to find one formula which helps both his defence and attack tick.

These are the last three results of the teams in all competitions:

Bremen 1-1 Leverkusen
Leverkusen 2-2 Stuttgart
Dortmund 1-0 Leverkusen

Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad
Barcelona 2-0 Valencia
Osasuna 3-2 Barcelona

Previous Meetings

Leverkusen 0-0 Barcelona (87/88 UEFA Cup quarter-finals)
Barcelona 0-1 Leverkusen (87/88 UEFA Cup quarter-finals)
Barcelona 2-1 Leverkusen (01/02 UEFA Champions League group stage)
Leverkusen 2-1 Barcelona (01/02 UEFA Champions League group stage)
Leverkusen 1-2 Barcelona (02/03 UEFA Champions League second group stage)
Barcelona 2-0 Leverkusen (02/03 UEFA Champions League second group stage)

Interesting Facts

Leverkusen is trying to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since 2002 when they met Real Madrid in the final. They were knocked out of the Europa League in the quarter-finals by none other than a Spanish side last season, Villarreal. They did beat another Spanish side in the shape of Valencia in this year’s group stages.

Leverkusen’s overall record at home against Spanish opposition in Europe includes five wins, three draws and four defeats. Barcelona’s overall away record against German opposition reads eight wins, ten draws and five losses.

Barcelona has scored more goals, fired more shots at goal, earned more corners and been caught offside more times than Leverkusen. Leverkusen won all their home games in the group stages. They have committed more fouls and have been shown more yellow cards than their Spanish rivals.

Winner

This is perhaps an easy match to predict considering how easily Barca has been demolishing opponents in away matches in this season’s Champions League and considering just how awfully poor Leverkusen has looked at times.

Prediction: Leverkusen 0-2 Barcelona

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