Bayer 04 Leverkusen could not face a more formidable threat to their hopes of reaching their first UEFA Champions League quarter-final in a decade as they welcome FC Barcelona for their round of 16 first-leg tie.
The fact that Josep Guardiola’s holders have averaged four goals a game on their travels underlines the size of the task for Robin Dutt’s men, who finished ahead of another Spanish side, Valencia CF, in the group stage.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen had never faced Spanish opponents before taking on Barcelona in the quarter-finals of their triumphant 1987/88 UEFA Cup campaign. Milton Tita scored the tie’s only goal past Andoni Zubizarreta, now Barcelona’s sporting director, in the second leg at the Camp Nou and Erich Ribbeck’s side went on to beat RCD Espanyol in the final.
The teams traded 2-1 home wins when they met again in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League first group stage, with Michael Ballack lining up against Carles Puyol and Xavi Hernández.
FC Barcelona won 2-1 in Leverkusen and 2-0 at home in the following season’s second group stage. Puyol, Xavi and Andres Iniesta featured for the Blaugrana.
Group E runners-up Leverkusen are bidding to reach the last eight for the first time since 2001/02, when they advanced to the final before losing to Real Madrid CF.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen posted three straight home wins in the group stage, including a 2-1 success against Valencia, but have reason to be wary of Spanish opposition. In last season’s UEFA Europa League they won four of six home games, but the two exceptions were against Club Atlético de Madrid (1-1) in the group stage and Villarreal CF (2-3), their nemesis in the last 16.
Leverkusen’s overall home record against Spanish opposition is W5 D3 L4.
Group H winners FC Barcelona scored 12 goals in their three away games in that section and have lost just one of their last nine European fixtures on their travels.
Barcelona’s last seven trips to Germany have yielded four wins and three draws, their last loss that 2001 reverse in Leverkusen. Their most recent visit was in the 2009/10 round of 16 when they drew 1-1 with VfB Stuttgart en route to a 5-1 aggregate success. Their overall away record against German teams is W8 D10 L5.
Barcelona beat Fortuna Dusseldorf to win the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1979.
