Stuttgart on mission to lift Camp Nou hex

The Camp Nou has proved an inhospitable place for visiting German sides and FC Barcelona will hope it remains so when VfB Stuttgart come to town for the second leg of their last-16 tie.

• Stuttgart are unbeaten on their travels in this season's UEFA Champions League but now face a Barcelona side seeking a ninth straight home win against Bundeliga opposition.

• Stuttgart should at least not be short on information about the European champions – their squad includes on-loan Barcelona midfielder Aleksandr Hleb, while coach Christian Gross earned a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou with FC Basel 1893 last season.

• That was also the scoreline in the first leg on 23 February, Cacau shooting Stuttgart into a 25th-minute lead at the VfB Arena only for Zlatan Ibrahimović to level seven minutes after half-time.

Previous meetings
• Barcelona recorded home and away wins against Stuttgart when the clubs met in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2007/08.

• The Spanish side prevailed 2-0 in Germany on 2 October 2007, Carles Puyol (53) and Lionel Messi (67) the scorers.

• Antonio Da Silva gave Stuttgart a third-minute lead in the return on 12 December, but Barcelona hit back to win 3-1 through goals from Giovani Dos Santos (36), Samuel Eto'o (57) and Ronaldinho (67). Barcelona finished top of the group and Stuttgart bottom.

• The lineups for that match were:
Barcelona: Jorquera, Puyol, Thuram, Milito, Sylvinho, Gudjohnsen (Bojan 52), Xavi (Crosas 70), Márquez, Dos Santos, Eto'o (Iniesta 62), Ronaldinho.
Stuttgart: Schäfer, Osorio, Tasci, Delpierre, Boka, Farnerud (Hilbert 58), Fernando Meira, Bastürk (Meissner 72), Da Silva, Ewerthon, Marica (Fischer 71).

Match background
• Barcelona are seeking a third successive UEFA Champions League quarter-final appearance. Stuttgart have never been beyond the last 16 and last appeared in the quarter-finals of any UEFA club competition in 1998.

• Barcelona have won their eight most recent home matches against German opposition, including a 4-0 triumph against FC Bayern München in last season's quarter-finals.

• Bayern were the last Bundesliga visitors to emerge victorious from the Camp Nou, winning 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League group stage in November 1998.

• Barcelona beat German opposition in Fortuna Düsseldorf to win the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1979.

• The holders won two of their three home games in the group stage, beating FC Dynamo Kyiv and FC Internazionale Milano either side of a surprise loss to FC Rubin Kazan.

• Stuttgart have never won in Spain but have posted three draws and one victory on the road in this season's UEFA Champions League, including a 1-1 draw at Sevilla FC in November.

• Overall the Bundesliga club have won just one of 12 previous meetings with Spanish sides – a 1-0 home success against Real Sociedad de Fútbol in the first leg of the 1988/89 UEFA Cup quarter-final. It was their first encounter with Liga opposition and they eventually advanced on penalties after losing the return by the same scoreline.

• Worryingly for Stuttgart, they have won only one of four ties in UEFA club competition when they have drawn the first leg at home, beating R. Standard de Liège in the 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup semi-finals (1-1 home, 1-0 away). The most recent of their three aggregate defeats came in 2000/01 when they were eliminated in the UEFA Cup fourth round by another Spanish side – RC Celta de Vigo (0-0 home, 1-2 away).

• Barcelona are in an identical position to a year ago, when they drew 1-1 at Olympique Lyonnais in the first knockout round first leg – they went on to win 5-2 in the Camp Nou return.

• That was one of 21 occasions when the Blaugrana have drawn the first leg away, and they emerged victorious on aggregate 15 times, the most recent defeat coming in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals against Juventus (1-1 away, 1-2 home aet).

Team ties
• Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola's first four appearances in Europe's elite club competition as a player came against German opposition in FC Hansa Rostock and 1. FC Kaiserslautern in autumn 1991 – Barcelona, that season's eventual winners, won both home legs but lost both away.

• Gross was in charge of the Basel side whose 1-1 draw at Barcelona in last season's group stage helped salvage some pride after a 5-0 home reverse.

• The Stuttgart coach's overall record in the competition against Spanish sides, with Basel, previously Grasshopper-Club and now Stuttgart, is: W1 D3 L5. That solitary victory came against RC Deportivo La Coruña in the 2002/03 second group stage – 1-0 in Switzerland.

• Hleb rejoined Stuttgart for a second spell after agreeing to a season-long loan from Barcelona last summer. He made 19 league appearances for the Catalan side in 2008/09 following his transfer from Arsenal FC.

• Hleb and Jens Lehmann were in the Arsenal team that lost the 2006 UEFA Champions League final to Barcelona, together with Thierry Henry. It was a particularly unhappy occasion for Lehmann who became the first player sent off in a European Champion Clubs' Cup final after bringing down Eto'o in the 18th minute.

• Thomas Hitzlsperger and Lehmann were in the Germany side who lost the final of UEFA EURO 2008 to Spain. Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Puyol featured for the opposition.

• Ciprian Marica scored the only goal of Romania's 1-0 friendly victory against Spain in Cadiz in November 2006.

• Marica was on the losing side when FC Shakhtar Donetsk suffered a 5-4 aggregate reverse against Daniel Alves's Sevilla in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 16.

• Pavel Pogrebnyak scored in each leg as FC Zenit St. Petersburg overcame Villarreal CF on away goals in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32, the Russian side winning 1-0 at home and losing 2-1 away.

• Khalid Boulahrouz made six Liga appearances for Sevilla during a season-long loan in 2007/08. Boulahrouz was in the Chelsea team that earned a 1-0 home win and 2-2 away draw with Barcelona in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage.