Rubin Kazan pre-game buildup.

Ah, the Champions League! I quite love the way it provides MORE Barça games to watch only days after La Liga (though I'm sure it's often to the frustration of Pep).

First and foremost, Toure Yaya is correct when he says that this game could be the potential "Banana skin" of the group. I watched Rubin against Inter in Russia, and the home team put in an excellent and, at times, very creative performance. In Dominguez they have found a player who can clearly produce something out of the ordinary, which I'm sure Pep will already be aware of.

That being said, Inter looked relatively uninspired against Rubin, and I don't think that the Russians are capable of coming to the Camp Nou and producing an upset, let alone against a Barça team which is still hurting from their failure to produce the goods at the weekend.

Zlatan took part in full training again this week, so expect him to start. Chygrynsky, Millito and Henry are the only three players not available to Pep. In light of this, my starting lineup would be:

---------------Valdes--------------

Alves---Puyol---Pique---Abidal

--------------Toure---------------

--------Xavi--------Iniesta-------

---Messi---Zlatan----Bojan-----

Once again, I'll opt for Bojan over Pedro. It was evident (at least to me) that Pedro was out of his depth against Valencia at the weekend, with his unwillingness to release the ball early enough being the main flaw I pointed out. I thought Bojan looked excellent when he came on, and his crossing ability was once again on show. With Zlatan in the middle, Bojan's accurate crossing could certainly come in handy, not to mention he's capable of scoring some excellent goals from distance. Messi on the right is a no -brainer, he'll want to get his confidence up again and put the recent media backlash towards him in the past (which, by the way, I think is completely ridiclous). 

As for the rest of the positions, I think I've picked our strongest lineup, and I'm almost certain that's what Pep will go with. We want to win all of our home games without exception, and to do so against Rubin tonight may almost guarantee us top place in the group at a later date.

Expect Pedro, Busquets and Maxwell to make some appearances, most notably to give Zlatan some rest as he's coming off the back of an injury.

I think the game will be pretty open, Rubin don't seem afraid to attack, and this might actually be their downfall. 

Score prediction; 4-0 Barça. Sorry Rubin, but I think you've drawn the short straw, the players will be determined to prove a point after the lackluster performance on Saturday, and Kazan will be the scalp. 

I'll update with post match thoughts and pre-league buildup during the week, until then;

Visca el Barça i visca Catalunya!