Barcelona v Rubin Kazan preview

Barca aim to continue fine form

Last updated: 20th October 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Barcelona v Rubin Kazan preview

Ibrahimovic: Racing to be fit

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Rubin Kazan face a daunting trip to Camp Nou as they seek their first UEFA Champions League group stage win.

Holders Barcelona are in pole position to advance to the last 16 after following up their goalless draw at Inter Milan with a 2-0 victory over Dynamo Kiev.

Pep Guardiola's men dropped their first points in the Primera Liga on Saturday as they played out a goalless draw with Valencia but they remain unbeaten in all competitions this season.

Barcelona will now hope to return to winning ways at home to Kazan, especially as they still have away games in Russia and Ukraine to come.

"The away games will be very difficult, not just because of the climate but because of the quality of the teams," Guardiola acknowledged.

"People don't know much about Rubin, but I have studied them very carefully and I know we have to concentrate hard because they can cause surprises."

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was left on the substitutes' bench against Valencia due to concerns over a slight injury but he has trained and Guardiola is hopeful he will be fit.

However, Thierry Henry will miss out with a thigh problem and Gabriel Milito (knee) is also sidelined.

Kazan news

Kazan are currently bottom of Group F with just one point from two games, although they will feel they should have beaten Inter last time out.

The Italians were reduced to ten men early in the second half and had to withstand a late onslaught to emerge with a 1-1 draw.

Kazan play Barca in their next two games and travel to Spain without talismanic striker Alexander Bukharov.

Bukharov has a knee injury, Petr Bystrov is out with heatstroke and Macbeth Sibaya is also suspended but coach Kurban Berdyev still plans to be positive.

"Bukharov's absence will have some kind of impact on us but not too much," said Berdyev.

"We expect Rubin to show what they are capable of, not just in defence but also attack, but we will have to wait and see what happens.

"We want to attack but we will see if that's possible or not."

Kazan have been in poor form of late but claimed their first win in six games with a 2-1 success against Khimki in a domestic match on Saturday.

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