Vukojević looks to get teeth into Barça

Ognjen Vukojević told uefa.com FC Dynamo Kyiv would "fight tooth and nail" for the victory they need against FC Barcelona as they bid to forge on in Europe and potentially end the European champions' title defence.

Tight situation
Group F is balanced on a knife-edge going into Matchday 6. Dynamo need to avoid defeat to have any chance of playing in Europe in the spring, but can guarantee a UEFA Champions League knockout phase berth for the first time since 1998/99 if they can beat Barça by a margin that eclipses the 2-0 defeat the Ukrainian champions suffered at Camp Nou on Matchday 2. They can even finish top of the section should the latter result coincide with a draw between FC Internazionale Milano and FC Rubin Kazan in section's other game.

'The world's best'
"We understand the difficulty of our task since we are up against the world's best team, but I think we have the potential to beat them," Vukojević told uefa.com. "In the previous Champions League fixtures we have shown our ability, like the perfect second half against Rubin Kazan or our great start against Inter. We have taken five points in the toughest group in this tournament, and but for a few bits of bad luck we would be much higher in the table. But this is no time to complain; now we have to think how to play our best football. If we do, we can reach our goal".

Tactical plans
The Croatia midfielder, who turns 26 on 20 December, has been a key figure at Dynamo since joining from NK Dinamo Zagreb in May 2008. He has remained a first-choice player under Russian coach Valeri Gazzaev, who was appointed this summer, having played every minute of the current UEFA Champions League campaign. The respect between the two is mutual. "I'm sure Gazzaev will choose the right tactics; he is a real class act," said Vukojević. "As far as I know, we'll definitely use full-pitch pressing to stop Barcelona moving the ball as they usually do, and we need to play fast on the counterattack."

Camp Nou crumble
Similar tactics saw them make a fine start in their game at Camp Nou, but Vukojević said the brilliance of the European champions knocked Dynamo off their balance. "We played very well for 25 minutes and created several promising opportunities, but Lionel Messi's first goal threw us off the stride," he recalled, "but this time everything is different as we will be playing in front of our own fans. For us and for them this is the match of the year and we will fight tooth and nail for a win."

'Not afraid'
Despite freezing weather in Kyiv, a full house is expected at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium, with fans eager to get a look at Josep Guardiola's side of stars; Vukojević is sure fans will not be disappointed in what they see, but also refused to rule out a shock result. "They are a squad of world stars, and the brightest among them is of course Messi, undoubtedly the best player in the world, although Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Zlatan Ibrahimović and others are no less dangerous," admitted the Croatian. "However, we are not afraid of any of them."