Puyol wary of Stuttgart threat

(GSM) – Barcelona will continue defending their Champions League title tonight as they take on VfB Stuttgart in the first leg of the eight final.

Barca skipper Carles Puyol has warned his teammates not to underestimate the German side.

Barcelona make the trip to Stuttgart having bounced back from their first league defeat of the season against Atletico Madrid by thrashing Racing Santander 4-0 on Saturday night.

However, they have to be on their guards as they face an in form Stuttgart who have won six of their last seven and at the weekend demolished FC Köln 5-1 away from home, with Cacau netting four of his side’s goals.

When the draw was made back in December, Stuttgart were in the midst of a 10-match winless run in all competitions, but it is a different story now and a wary Puyol said.

“They’re playing better now and they are a dangerous team.

“If we don’t go there focused, we could really have a bad time,” added the Barca captain.

The Blaugrana have been haunted by injuries recently and will miss Eric Abidal and Seydou Keita tonight. Xavi and Dani Alves have at least made the trip to Germany, but neither has yet been given the all-clear to return to action following injuries.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic remains a doubt for the Stuttgart game after he had to pull out of last Saturday’s match with an ankle problem. The Swedish striker has been included to the squad in the hope he will be fit to feature.

Stuttgart coach Christian Gross is likely to be without left-back Arthur Boka for both meetings against Barca after he suffered a dislocated shoulder in training.

The injury of the Ivory Coast international was the only setback on what was a memorable weekend for Die Schwaben which saw striker Cacau make a brilliant return from his four-week injury lay-off.

“I was really looking forward to this game after my long break,” said Cacau. “And the way the game went makes it particularly beautiful.”

Looking ahead to the clash, the Brazilian-born Germany international told Barca TV: “We’ve got nothing to lose. Barca are favourites and we maybe have a 20 or 30% chance of getting through, but we will be trying to make the most of our opportunities.

“We have to get a good result at home, because when Barca play at home it is very difficult to win. I hope they may be over confident and not commit themselves completely.”