Barcelona must avoid defeat against Dynamo Kiev to ensure their place in the last 16 of the Champions League.
Guardiola targeting top-spot finish in Ukraine clash
Barcelona must avoid defeat at Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday to ensure their place in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League in what has surprisingly proved the closest group in this year's tournament.
Not many would have predicted Group F to go down to the wire when holders Barca and Italian champions Inter Milan were pitted against the Eastern European duo of Dynamo and Rubin Kazan.
But as matchday six draws to a conclusion, the best of Ukraine and Russia have an outside chance to pull off one of biggest shocks in Champions League history.
An away win seems unlikely in the group's other game, with Inter playing host to Rubin, whereas Valeriy Gazzaev's side hold home advantage against the top-placed Catalans, who will not relish the freezing cold conditions at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy stadium.
Sub-zero
The Spanish champions, who can expect -2°C temperatures in the Ukraine capital, will seal their place in the knock-out stages with a draw, but boss Pep Guardiola will be targeting a win to avoid Manchester United and Chelsea in the next round.
And Barca's marquee summer signing Zlatan Imbrahimovic is keen to sew up top-spot in order to get a favourable draw.
"We won two difficult games last week, and now we want to beat Dynamo and finish first," said the Swedish striker. "It will be another difficult game, because it is the last of the group stage."
Barca could call upon the services of defender Gabriel Milito for the first time in over 18 months after the Argentinean centre-back was included in Guardiola's squad for the trip to Kiev.
Milito has been out of action since limping out Barca's Champions League semi-final against United in April 2008 with a knee injury, but 29-year-old joins fellow defender Rafael Marquez in the 19-man travelling party.
Ambition
Dynamo, meanwhile, still harbour ambitions of extending their involvement in this year's competition and they can book their place in the next phase should they win by two clears goals on Wednesday. A victory by any margin would be enough should the San Siro clash finish in a draw.
And Croatian midfielder Ognjen Vukojevic believes they can upset the form book and turn the Spanish giants over.
"We understand the difficulty of our task since we are up against the world's best team, but I think we have the potential to beat them," he said.
"In the previous Champions League fixtures we have shown our ability, like the perfect second half against Rubin Kazan or our great start against Inter.
"We have taken five points in the toughest group in this tournament, and but for a few bits of bad luck we would be much higher in the table."
The hosts have no new injury concerns with midfielder Milos Ninkovic proving his fitness after picking up an injury in Dynamo's last league fixture while Andriy Shevchenko expected to lead the line.
