Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola is set to dominate the story line of tonight's Champions League semi final.
Guardiola is a club legend and has won nine league titles and three European Cups as a player and manager.
He left the Camp Nou in 2012, before being named Bayern Munich manager the following Summer. Tonight will see Guardiola roam the touchline for the first time since he left.
Pep on #FCBFCB: "It's wonderful to come back here...Barcelona was an important part of my life. But I'm here to win!" pic.twitter.com/3hGQADeScb
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) May 6, 2015
The teams last met two seasons ago when Guardiola was taking a year off in America. Under previous manager Jupp Heynckes, Bayern won the semi final clash 7-0 over two legs.
The sides have previously played eight times in European competition with the German champions winning five times and losing only once.
Barcelona will go into tonight's game with the strongest attacking line up in Europe. Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar have already scored over 100 goals in all competitions between them and will be intent on adding to that total tonight.
Despite their abundance of riches, Lionel Messi has failed to score in the knockout stages this season.
Guardiola feels Messi is unstoppable despite his European drought. "The way he has been playing over the past four or five months, you cannot stop him. He is too good."
Bayern have been decimated by injuries with Robert Lewandowski expected to wear a protective mask tonight despite suffering from concussion and breaking his nose and jaw in the German Cup loss to Borussia Dortmund last week.
Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery continue to be long term absentees for the German champions.
Barcelona have had better luck on the injury front with Jeremy Mathieu the only doubt for this evening's game.
The pitch is in perfect condition for the game tonight! #FCBFCB pic.twitter.com/abVpx5ITZ2
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) May 6, 2015
The strength of the Catalan's attack, combined with Bayern's depleted starting side should be that Barcelona will win tonight, but the tie should still be competitive ahead of next weeks game. Whatever happens, we can be sure Bayern will not be winning 7-0 over the two legs.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
