Porto chance for Barca to make a statement in Xavi's 100th game
After consecutive premature and humiliating Champions League exits, Barcelona visit Porto on Wednesday aiming to make a statement in their trickiest group stage fixture.
Xavi Hernandez's side, five-time winners of the competition, have set their sights on returning to Europe's elite, with that goal informing their transfer strategy last summer. President Joan Laporta sold off various parts of the club and a percentage of future television rights to fund a spending spree but the Catalans were left with egg on their faces after failing to make it past the group stage.
This summer the spending was far more restrained by necessity but Barcelona still managed to bring in Portuguese duo Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix on loan, as well as Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan to round out an impressive squad. Xavi has a group of players which should be strong enough to battle with the continent's top sides, at least on paper.
The coach said Barcelona were concentrating on making it into the knockout rounds for the first time in three years, before setting any loftier goals. After two consecutive tough group stage draws, this season Barcelona had more fortune. They waltzed past Belgian champions Royal Antwerp with a 5-0 triumph in their opener but Xavi was quick to acknowledge it means little in terms of their overall chances, given they also thrashed Viktoria Plzen 5-1 in their first match last year.
"It's too soon (to say we can win it), last year we were in the same situation and it didn't go well, we have to be cautious," Xavi told reporters. "We have to continue like this, we're on a good path... next up we have the most complicated match of the group, in Porto. We have the capacity, the confidence, but in the next game we have what I would say is the hardest game."
The clash at the Estadio Do Dragao against Porto, who did make it through the group in both of the last two seasons, will be a useful barometer of whether Barcelona are close to the level they want to be. Veteran Porto defender Pepe, an old enemy of Barcelona with plenty of Clasico battle scars from his years at Real Madrid, is racing against time to be fit for the clash.