On an intriguing programme of Champions' League soccer, no match prompts more tantalising thoughts than Barcelona's home game against Ukraine side Dinamo Kiev in Group C tomorrow night. This is a game which might see the Spanish league leaders make an exit from the series at the hands of a born again, one-time eastern European power house.

Barcelona are a club who rarely fail to make headlines, for reasons good and bad. Last season, they managed both when, much aided by a certain Brazilian called Ronaldo, they won both the Cup Winners' Cup and the Spanish Cup yet went on to sack English coach Bobby Robson. European success, it seems, was no comfort for the misery of having to play second fiddle in the Spanish championship to title winners and arch-rivals, Real Madrid, then coached by Italian Fabio Capello.

Robson was promoted sideways and the former Ajax Amsterdam coach Luis Van Gaal brought in to replace him amid a blaze of optimistic publicity and expensive market activity. No less than £44 million pounds was spent bring such as Brazilians Anderson and Rivaldo, Frenchman Christophe Dugarry, Dutchmen Michael Reiziger and Ruud Hesp, Yugoslav Dragon Ciric etc.

Result of all this is that more than two months into the new season, Van Gaal would appear to have totally inverted last year's trend of domestic league failure and European competition success. One thing, however, has not changed and it is that two months into the new season, Van Gaal already risks going the way of his immediate predecessor.

Last Saturday night, Barcelona hit a high point when defeating the loathed Real Madrid 3-2, in Madrid too. It was an important victory not only because of the "big firm" rivalry but because it took Barcelona six points clear from second placed Espanol, with Real all of seven points back in third.

For Van Gaal, the result may prove a lifesaver, distracting attention from a disastrous Champions' League run which has so far seen Barcelona pick up just one point in three games, drawing 2-2 at home to Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in between two away losses, 3-2 to England's Newcastle and 3-0 to Kiev.

Saturday's win may also have proved important in terms of Van Gaal's relations with at least one star player in his talented squad - the enigmatic Bulgarian genius, Hristo Stoichkov. The Bulgarian star has been largely in the wilderness this season, dropped by Van Gaal after some pre-season disagreements which focussed on practical jokes by Stoichkov during training and, probably more importantly, on Stoichkov's willingness to complain all too publically about being dropped from the side.

Curiously, though, when it came to what was arguably Van Gaal's most important game so far with his new club, it was to Stoichkov that he turned, bringing on the Bulgarian for his first Spanish league game of the season. At the postmatch press conference, Van Gaal was asked repeatedly about his apparent change of mind re Stoichkov. The Dutch coach dodged the question and it was left to his assistant coach, former Barcelona player Carlos Rexach to spell out the obvious: "Stoichkov always demands the respect of the opposition and is always dangerous in these big games."

Enough said. It is interesting, though, that Van Gaal has had to back down, renouncing on his dictatorial methods when real-politik considerations of "big games" came into play. Those same considerations ought to apply tomorrow night when Barcelona play host to Kiev and when only a win will suffice to keep their remote prospects of qualification alive.

Stoichkov seems sure to partner Brazilian Rivaldo, scorer of a neatly taken opening goal after only four minutes on Saturday night, while another Brazilian Gioavanni could well take over in the second half. Barcelona could be further strengthened by the return of first choice goalkeeper, Portuguese international Vitor Baia, out of action since August with a shoulder injury.

While Barcelona might alternate good form in the home league with poor performances in the Champions' league, the same does not apply to their opponents, Kiev, who not only lead Group C by three points from Newcastle but are also out in front in the Ukraine league alongside Dnipro Dnipropetrovesk and Shahktar Donetsk.

Kiev are, of course, a side with a certain pedigree. Fourteen times winners of the old USSR championship and the only communist East Bloc side to win a major European trophy when twice lifting the Cup Winners' Cup (1975 and 1986), Kiev owe much of their current renaissance to the man who coached them to that 1986 European success, Col Valery Lobanovsky.

Back in charge at Dinamo, Lobanovsky has benefited from the changing times. A decade ago, the club was dependent on intermittent state aid for survival. In today's market-oriented independent Ukraine, Kiev command an annual budget of approximately £8 million which, even if it is considerably less than some of the Western European giants (AC Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid etc probably spend three times that much), still enables the side to keep a competitive 24-man squad.

Kiev's success is such that the Ukraine national squad (currently 2-0 down after the first leg of their World Cup play-off with Croatia) is largely based on Kiev players. Sergei Rebrov and Andrei Shevchenko are the front men in a Kiev line out in which midfielders Yuri Kalitvintsev and Vitaly Kossovsky, defender Vladislav Vashtchuck and goalkeeper Alexandar Shovkovski are the outstanding elements. Barcelona can expect no favours.