Barcelona V Bayer Leverkusen: 7 Bold Predictions for Champions League Showdown

Barcelona welcome Bayer Leverkusen to the Nou Camp for the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with a 3-1 aggregate lead.

The defending European champions look on course for a place in the quarterfinals, but nothing can be taken for granted.

Leverkusen may have fallen out of the title race, and are now also losing the battle to finish in the Champions League places for next season, but they are still a decent outfit.

Bayern Munich found that out to their cost when they lost 2-0 at the BayArena last Saturday.

It is difficult to make bold predictions about this game when the odds are so stacked against the German side.

Nevertheless, here, with the help of stats gurus Opta, are predictions for Wednesday night's clash.

Barcelona Will Make Hard Work of It to Begin with

Pep Guardiola's side may still be one of the best in the world, but this season they have sometimes failed to reach the levels we have come to expect from them.

Against Sporting Gijon at the weekend, they dominated possession but barely troubled the goalkeeper until they scored in the 43rd minute.

Arsenal showed against AC Milan what a team with nothing to lose can do if they start all guns blazing and the team with the advantage are not fully on their game.

Barca risk being caught cold if they are not fully focused from the kick-off.

Leverkusen Will Play with Confidence

The aforementioned win over Bayern Munich was the perfect preparation for Leverkusen.

Manager Robin Dutt will have been pleased to see his team score two goals in the closing stages, one from Stefan Kiessling and another from Karim Bellarabi.

After beating one of Europe's biggest clubs, facing another one five days later may not suddenly seem such a daunting task.  

Leverkusen Will Play in the Air

Kiessling, Leverkusen's top scorer this season, is a towering striker, standing at 6'3".

Their goal against Barca in the first leg came from a Michal Kadlec header. 

That was the German side's fourth headed goal of the competition—more than any other side.

Add to that the fact that centre-back Carles Puyol is missing through injury for Barca, and an aerial bombardment becomes the stand-out gameplan for Leverkusen.

Leverkusen Will Be Chasing Shadows

It is not news to anyone that Barcelona sap their opposition game after game through their superior possession and passing, but the facts bear repeating.

In the Champions League this season, Barca have registered the highest possession and passing accuracy percentages—74% and 91% respectively.

As such, Leverkusen can expect to go for long periods without seeing the ball, and must concentrate on keeping their shape when they don't have it and using it effectively every time they do.

Barcelona Will Score

Throughout this season, Barca have only failed to score on three occasions in all competitions.

They have not failed to breach the opposition defence in any of their last 28 Champions League matches.

With the sheer amount of attacking talent on show, and the fact that Leverkusen have to come out and try and reduce their two-goal deficit, it seems inconceivable that Barca will not extend that run to 29 European games.

Lionel Messi Will Score

While his team-mate Xavi Hernandez hogs the limelight when it comes to jaw-dropping passing statistics, Lionel Messi continues to score at a mind-boggling rate.

When the World Player of the Year went three games without a goal back in October, there was much speculation and soul-searching as to the reasons for his "drought."

He responded with back-to-back hat-tricks in his next two games.

Since the little Argentinian scored a header against Manchester United in the 2009 final, he has netted 28 goals in 29 European starts.

This season, he already has seven goals in six Champions League games, including against Leverkusen in the first leg.

It is less a question of if Messi scores, and more of how many.

Barcelona Will Win

Given all the aforementioned statistics about Barca's scoring prowess, and the fact that Leverkusen were beaten 3-1 in their own stadium and have to win by two clear goals in the cavernous Nou Camp, a Barca win is certainly on the cards.

The bookies are pricing the German side as big as 20/1 to win the game, whilst Barca are 1/6 to claim victory.

Not even history is on Leverkusen's side: Barca have won the last four of their previous seven meetings.

Anything less than a fifth-straight victory for the Catalans would be a big surprise.