Tomorrow evening sees the resumption of the Champions League as Barça take on Rangers at the Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow. This match could be very important to see who finishes top of Group E as both teams are currently on six points. Ronaldinho is back in the squad for the game after missing Saturday’s defeat at Villarreal, while Deco is out for five weeks after his thigh injury was confirmed.

Rangers go into the match on a high after beating arch rivals Celtic 3-0 on Saturday. Rangers have two Spanish players in their squad, ex-Osasuna defender Carlos Cuellar and Nacho Novo who was Saturday’s hero scoring twice against Celtic. However, it is not certain that Novo will play as top scorer Kris Boyd may return to play alongside Daniel Cousin. Definitely missing will be the injured Jean-Claude Darcheville and Brahim Hemdani. Saturday’s victory brought Rangers level on points with Celtic at the top of the Scottish League.

Barça’s injury problems could mean a start for Eidur Gudjohnsen in midfield, it seems unlikely that Rijkaard will give a debut to Marc Crosas in such a big game, and the only other options to replace Deco would mean playing someone (Ronaldinho, Sylvinho?) out of position. Ronaldinho will probably come in for Bojan which will mean Thierry Henry will play through the middle. After Saturday’s performance Rijkaard might be tempted to change the defence which could see a start for Lilian Thuram, but I think it’s more likely that we’ll see the same four who started against Villarreal.

Barça and Rangers have never met in a competitive game before, and as far as I know they’ve never played a friendly, but Barça have a dreadful record against Scottish teams. In twelve matches Barça have only won twice, with four draws and six defeats, however, the last trip to Scotland three seasons ago, saw a 1-3 victory over Celtic with goals from Deco, Giuly and Larsson.

Barça will have to approach this game with a much better attitude than they showed against Villarreal if they are not to be steamrollered by the Scots. Barça may have a lot more technical ability but Rangers will come out to unsettle the team with 51,000 fans behind them from start to finish. This will prove to be a big test for Barça, I feel the first goal could be vital.

Barça have taken the following 18 players for the game: Valdés, Jorquera, Puyol, Thuram, Sylvinho, Oleguer, Abidal, Milito, Iniesta, Xavi, Crosas, Gudjohnsen, Messi, Giovani, Ronaldinho, Henry, Ezquerro, Bojan.

Possible starting XI: Valdés; Oleguer, Puyol, Milito, Abidal; Xavi, Iniesta, Gudjohnsen; Messi, Henry, Ronaldinho.

Prediction: Rangers 1 Barça 2