Barcelona v VfB Stuttgart
Team news
Barcelona
Out: Eric Abidal (groin strain)
Doubtful: Carles Puyol (back), Seydou Keita (right hamstring tear)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: Carles Puyol, Gerard Piqué
• Puyol missed the Valencia CF match on Sunday due to back pain. He and Keita both face fitness tests on Tuesday.
• Lionel Messi, as captain of the UEFA.com users' Team of the Year 2009, will accept a cheque for €100,000 from UEFA before the second leg at Camp Nou to be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Stuttgart
Out: Martin Lanig (cruciate knee ligament), Arthur Boka (dislocated shoulder) Sven Ulreich (knee)
Doubtful: none
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: Timo Gebhart
• Lanig, out since August, returned to training at the start of the month.
• Lehmann's goalkeeping understudy Ulreich was ruled out for six weeks after being hurt during Germany's UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying draw with Iceland on 2 March.
Weekend results
14/03/10 Barcelona 3-0 Valencia CF
(Messi 56 81 83)
• Messi's superb hat-trick ensured Barcelona ended the weekend still level on points with Real Madrid CF at the Liga summit.
• Bojan Krkić replaced the suspended Ibrahimović up front but made way for Thierry Henry at the interval.
12/03/10 FC Schalke 04 2-1 VfB Stuttgart
(Edu 46, Kuranyi 55; Tasci 50)
• A Friday night fixture giving them two days' more rest than Barcelona, ninth-placed Stuttgart went down to only their second defeat under Gross, his first away from home.
• Stuttgart have scored in their last 14 matches but have only one clean sheet in 15 games.
Background
• Barcelona will aim to emulate the result when Stuttgart visited the Camp Nou in the 2007/08 group stage, when they won 3-1 having also prevailed 2-0 in Germany.
• Stuttgart have not been beyond the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League and are hoping to end a run of eight straight defeats for German opposition at Barcelona since a 2-1 win for FC Bayern München in November 1998.
Team Ties
• Penalties will be needed if there is a repeat of Gross's most recent visit to the Camp Nou, when his FC Basel 1893 side secured a 1-1 group-stage draw at Barcelona last season.
• Hleb, now on loan at Stuttgart, played the full 90 minutes of that game as well as Barcelona's 5-0 win at Basel a fortnight earlier.
• Stuttgart have never won in Spain but are unbeaten on the road in this season's competition, including a 1-1 draw at Sevilla FC.
Stuttgart vs Barcelona live::
