Barca v Shakhtar, a.k.a. “A win makes it easy.” 1:30 p.m. CT, ESPN Deportes, 4 p.m., CT, ESPN Classic

By: Kevin | September 30th, 2008

And what are you dreaming of, little Xavi? Perhaps a win, which would almost certainly grease the skids for the advance into the knockout rounds, perhaps?

Or maybe you’re dreaming of a couple of goals, shots that don’t thwack against the crossbar?

It’s another Champions League go-round everyone, and this one will be brief. There has been so much written about this match, including an encyclopaedic post by Ramzi, for you frequenters of Pep’s Place.

This match is fraught with danger. The last time we saw them at their home in Champions League competition, we went down like whores when the fleet’s in town, 2-0. It’s payback time.

We and they sit atop Group C, at 3 points each. Even a draw probably gets us through, as we already know we can smack Sporting about, and expect even less bother from Basel.

Being at home, Shakhtar will come out to play, which is good news for us. When sides come out to play with us, it’s next to impossible to argue with our fluency with the ball and variety of attacking options. But expect them to notch a goal or two, as well.

On the down side, we just had an inSANE match at Espanyol, that was also very long. That was Sunday, and here it is Wednesday. Here’s the Shakhtar squad list (the astute will note that Syvinho doesn’t make the squad again):

Valdés, Pinto, Cáceres, Alves, Puyol, Piqué, Márquez, Abidal, Busquets, Touré, Keita, Xavi, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Pedro, Bojan, Messi, Henry and Eto’o.

Players in bold played the entire match against Espanyol, so look for many of them to come on as subs, or go off early if we can get a couple of early goals.

It’s difficult to predict a starting XI for the rotation-oriented Guardiola, but I think that being away, he’ll opt for security and tamping down a home side that will be looking to take a big-time scalp. So I see defense, as he knows that with almost any group of attackers, we can do the business in an open match.

So: Valdés, Cáceres, Alves, Márquez, Abidal, Yaya, Keita, Xavi, Pedro, Gudjohnsen, Henry.

I think Henry gets the start to keep Eto’o, Messi and Iniesta in the bag for the big Liga match against Atletico on Saturday, which ain’t a lot of time. They might come in if we need a goal to tie, but given the defensive nature of the lineup, look for a low-scoring game, probably 2-1 us, but don’t be shocked to see a 1-1 draw.

This is a match where we really miss the recuperating Aleksandr Hleb, who would be pressed into the starting XI for sure, probably with Krkic replacing Henry as the striker. But he’s still a week or so away, so we have what we have.

It’s go time.