Garcia not intimidated by brilliant Barcelona

Barcelona are set to secure their passage through to the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League when they take on Roma on Tuesday night.

The Catalans have a five point lead on second place Roma and are favorites to finish first in their group again.

Ivan Rakitic and Leo Messi both got gametime in Madrid as they recover from their respective injuries and both with play at some stage against Roma, although whether they will start or begin the match on the bench is open to debate.

They head into the tie full of confidence following their thrashing of arch rivals Real Madrid at the weekend, which also saw the long-awaited return of star player Lionel Messi, who had been sidelined for two months with a knee injury.

“Even though Barcelona are already practically through, Roma can not count on [any sense of complacency], because Barcelona at home, in front of 90,000 people, who will be demanding that their team win and play well…it will not be easy for Roma!”

“Roma have to come here and win because they will not want to have to rely on getting another result”. We cannot defend throughout the entire game, because we will lose.

Brazilian right-back Dani Alves, meanwhile, said: “It’s great to have won, to have won three points but the objective is further ahead”, he said.

The teams played out a 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture in the Italian capital in September.

Barcelona coach Luis Enrique speaks the media after his team defeated Real Madrid 4-0.

Bayer Leverkusen and BATE Borisov risk being eliminated from the tournament if they draw their match in Belarus and Roma beats Barcelona in Spain.

Garcia not intimidated by BarcaDespite his admiration for Barcelona, Ancelotti believes that Roma can hurt Luis Enrique’s Liga leaders on the break. Francesco Totti, Gervinho (thigh) and Mohamed Salah (ankle) are all injured while Elio Capradossi and Kevin Strootman are also not available to Rudi Garcia.