Barcelona will try to put Saturday's shock Spanish league loss to Osasuna behind them when they continue their Champions League defence on Tuesday.
The Catalan side travel to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their last-16 tie, three days after only their second loss of the season.
Ominously for Leverkusen, Barca coach Pep Guardiola has declared: "We'll go to Europe to defend our title."
In Tuesday's other last-16 game, French side Lyon host Apoel Nicosia of Cyprus.
However, it is the game at the BayArena that is attracting the most attention, especially following Barcelona's 3-2 defeat by Osasuna, which further harmed the defence of their La Liga title, leaving them trailing table-toppers Real Madrid by 10 points.
Barcelona captain Carles Puyol has insisted the Catalans are focused on all competitions.
"We'll fight to the end in all three competitions, whoever thinks the opposite is wrong,'' he warned. "We have to give everything every game, and we'll do this until the end of the season.''
With Tuesday's trip to Leverkusen in mind, Guardiola chose to rest midfielders Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez for the Osasuna defeat but both are likely to start in Germany.
However, midfielder Sergio Busquets is a doubt after missing two games but will travel with the team.
Leverkusen have problems of their own at present having claimed only one win from their last seven games. The club is also at odds with midfielder Michael Ballack after managing director Wolfgang Holzhaeuser described his transfer back to the club as a "failure".
Ballack will not play on Tuesday after tearing a calf muscle in training on Sunday and he is joined on the sidelines by fellow midfielder Sydney Sam and striker Eren Derdiyok, both of whom have foot injuries (the latter after stepping on broken glass in his bathroom last week).
"We're not dreamers but realists,'' said Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voeller. "We want to make sure of the Europa League place and secure international football that way.''
SURPRISE PACKAGE
In France, surprise package Apoel Nicosia will be aiming to continue their impressive run in this season's competition against Lyon.
The exploits of the smallest club left in the competition have gripped the football-crazed island of Cyprus and Brazilian midfielder Gustavo Manduca says the club will travel to frozen central France confident they can upset the odds again.
"It's a big opportunity for us, it's a big game," he told his club's website. "Everybody is focused and everybody wants to play. We will try our best to bring back a good result from France."
Lyon have reached this stage of the competition in each of the last nine seasons and they remain in contention for silverware on three fronts domestically.
However, they have not looked commanding of late and recently lost 2-1 at home to relegation-threatened Caen.
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas expressed frustration at his side's inability to react against Caen and criticised their lack of effort, but coach Remi Garde dismissed suggestions the result would unsettle his squad ahead of the first leg at Stade Gerland.
"It's obviously not good preparation but if we'd won, you could have said that we'd be going into the game with too much confidence," he said.
"We'll call ourselves into question. Every match has its own context and with the flavour of the Champions League, Tuesday will be very different."
The Catalan side travel to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their last-16 tie, three days after only their second loss of the season.
Ominously for Leverkusen, Barca coach Pep Guardiola has declared: "We'll go to Europe to defend our title."
In Tuesday's other last-16 game, French side Lyon host Apoel Nicosia of Cyprus.
However, it is the game at the BayArena that is attracting the most attention, especially following Barcelona's 3-2 defeat by Osasuna, which further harmed the defence of their La Liga title, leaving them trailing table-toppers Real Madrid by 10 points.
Barcelona captain Carles Puyol has insisted the Catalans are focused on all competitions.
"We'll fight to the end in all three competitions, whoever thinks the opposite is wrong,'' he warned. "We have to give everything every game, and we'll do this until the end of the season.''
With Tuesday's trip to Leverkusen in mind, Guardiola chose to rest midfielders Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez for the Osasuna defeat but both are likely to start in Germany.
However, midfielder Sergio Busquets is a doubt after missing two games but will travel with the team.
Leverkusen have problems of their own at present having claimed only one win from their last seven games. The club is also at odds with midfielder Michael Ballack after managing director Wolfgang Holzhaeuser described his transfer back to the club as a "failure".
Ballack will not play on Tuesday after tearing a calf muscle in training on Sunday and he is joined on the sidelines by fellow midfielder Sydney Sam and striker Eren Derdiyok, both of whom have foot injuries (the latter after stepping on broken glass in his bathroom last week).
"We're not dreamers but realists,'' said Leverkusen sporting director Rudi Voeller. "We want to make sure of the Europa League place and secure international football that way.''
SURPRISE PACKAGE
In France, surprise package Apoel Nicosia will be aiming to continue their impressive run in this season's competition against Lyon.
The exploits of the smallest club left in the competition have gripped the football-crazed island of Cyprus and Brazilian midfielder Gustavo Manduca says the club will travel to frozen central France confident they can upset the odds again.
"It's a big opportunity for us, it's a big game," he told his club's website. "Everybody is focused and everybody wants to play. We will try our best to bring back a good result from France."
Lyon have reached this stage of the competition in each of the last nine seasons and they remain in contention for silverware on three fronts domestically.
However, they have not looked commanding of late and recently lost 2-1 at home to relegation-threatened Caen.
Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas expressed frustration at his side's inability to react against Caen and criticised their lack of effort, but coach Remi Garde dismissed suggestions the result would unsettle his squad ahead of the first leg at Stade Gerland.
"It's obviously not good preparation but if we'd won, you could have said that we'd be going into the game with too much confidence," he said.
"We'll call ourselves into question. Every match has its own context and with the flavour of the Champions League, Tuesday will be very different."
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