Mighty Barcelona could be in for a difficult task against the surprise package of this year’s Champions League, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a very interesting game at Camp Nou.

The Catalans have all but secured the La Liga title, having created an eight-point cushion at the top by beating Villarreal and they are now hoping to continue in the same manner when the play host to Shakhtar.

Pep Guardiola’s side seem to have suffered a small dip in form of late as they are no longer as convincing as they had been before, and there is a good value in backing Barcelona to win by one goal at odds of 4.00 (3/1) offered by Paddy Power.

The hosts have received a major boost as Pedro and Maxwell have resumed training and they will be fit to face Shakhtar, while Leo Messi is set to start after recovering from a minor knock.

However, Carles Puyol continues to miss out with knee injury, while Eric Abidal is unlikely to be available again this season.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Valdes – Dani Alves, Busquets, Pique, Adriano – Mascherano, Xavi, Iniesta – Messi, Villa, Pedro.

Shakhtar have been one of the regulars in the Champions League group stages over the last few years, but they never managed to make that final step and qualify for the knockout stages.

However, Mircea Lucescu’s side finally made that happen this term, as they piped Arsenal to the first place in the group before recording a double victory over Roma to earn the clash with mighty Barcelona.

The team’s style of play oddly resembles that of Barcelona, which is little wonder when we take into account the number of Brazilians in the squad and there is no doubt that the Ukrainian side will prove to be a tough nut to crack at Camp Nou.

The visitors have some problems at the back as former Barca defemder Dmytro Chygrynskiy is a minor doubt, while his defensive partner Olexandr Kucher is out with injury.

Brazilian midfielder Fernandinho returned into action after breaking his leg in the first part of the season and he is in contention for the starting place.

Probable starting line-up (4-1-4-1): Pyatov – Srna, Chygrynskiy, Rakitskiy, Rat – Hubschman – Willian, Jadson, Mkhitaryan, Douglas Costa – Luiz Adriano.

Barcelona are hot favourites to win this tie with home win paying 1.22 (2/9) at Victor Chandler, whereas Shakhtar are 4.50 (7/2) not to lose at Paddy Power.