UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Rubin Kazan v Barcelona: BARCELONA WILL look to get the defence of their Champions League title back on track tonight and avenge their shock defeat to Rubin Kazan a fortnight ago.

Barcelona are already facing a serious test of their mettle with just one point separating all four teams in the group and with Pep Guardiola’s side still to play an away game in eastern Europe – they meet Russia’s Rubin tonight and then Ukrainian side Dynamo Kiev in their final outing in December.

Rubin and Dynamo, the reigning champions of their respective countries, are likely to make it hard for Barcelona and the sub-zero conditions the Catalan giants are set to encounter on the two trips could be just as tricky.

Barca director of football Txiki Begiristain admits his big concern is not their opponents, but the state of the playing surface at the Centralniy stadium, saying: “If the pitch is okay then I’m calm. I believe we are the better team and the main thing is that the players warm up well.”

Begiristain was not ignoring the threat posed by Kazan either though, with the Russian outfit having created a huge stir by their victory at the Nou Camp two weeks ago.

Aleksandr Ryazantsev’s long-range piledriver early on and Gokdeniz Karadeniz’s breakaway goal in the second half inflicted a first competitive defeat on Barca since last May, and although Guardiola’s side remained top of Group F, they are now only level on four points with Dynamo and Rubin, with Inter Milan a point behind.

Guardiola has selected a strong 19-man squad, including flying full back Dani Alves, who was given the green light to return to action yesterday having initially been expected to be out for three weeks after suffering a thigh injury in the first meeting with Rubin.

That means Barca are only missing defensive duo Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Gabriel Milito.

Rubin remain on course to retain their Russian title, winning each of their last three games to keep just ahead of second-placed Spartak Moscow, who are one point behind the reigning champions but have just three matches left to try and overhaul them.

Kurban Berdyev’s side appear to be hitting form at just the right time. Berdyev also has South African midfielder Macbeth Sibaya available again following a three-match European ban.