GERMANY: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Stuttgart and Barcelona prepare for their Champions League Group E clash at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion

Stuttgart fear the worst against Barcelona with Messi and Thierry returning to form. Ronaldinho is likely to be back from injury for the Group E game against Stuttgart at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion on Tuesday (October 2) but Barcelona will scarcely feel they need him. Since kick-starting their season with a 3-0 win over Olympique Lyon they have won their last three league games, scoring 10 goals in the process, as the effervescent Lionel Messi has taken over the leadership of the side. Thierry Henry, fresh from contributing three goals in the 4-1 win against Levante on Saturday, confirmed that he felt at the beginning of last week that he was back to form. "Definitely after the game against Zaragoza I felt way better playing that game. I was feeling better, I was taking the ball, running. My legs are back. Now I need, as I said so many times, more games which will be even better. But so far, I can say I'm feeling pretty good. Hopefully it will continue that way." Manager Frank Rijkaard said at the news conference that he rated Stuttgart highly: "I expect a very difficult match because as I already said, there are no easy games in the Champions League. I think that the level is very high and above all, we have to play against a very strong team." Stuttgart, Bundesliga champions, beaten 2-1 by Rangers in their first group game, suffered a fourth league defeat of the season on Saturday, 2-1 away to a distinctly modest Hansa Rostock team. They are already 10 points behind pacesetters Bayern Munich and coach Armin Veh is running out of ideas. All the talk in Barcelona is of Ronaldinho's possible return but Thierry Henry is just looking forward to playing again alongside Lionel Messi in Tuesday's game. Frank Rijkaard will decide only on Tuesday whether Ronaldinho is fit enough to return in the Group E match but either way the Catalans should have firepower to spare. Probable teams: VfB Stuttgart: 1-Raphael Schaefer; 3-Ricardo Osorio, 5-Vardar Tasci, 6-Fernando Meira, 21-Ludovic Magnin; 13-Pavel Pardo, 19-Roberto Hilbert, 28-Sami Khedira, 10-Yildiray Basturk; 18-Cacau, 33-Mario Gomez. Barcelona: 1-Victor Valdes; 23-Oleguer, 5-Carles Puyol, 21-Lilian Thuram, 22-Eric Abidal; 4-Rafael Marquez or 8-Andres Iniesta, 6-Xavi, 20-Deco; 14-Thierry Henry, 10-Ronaldinho, 19-Lionel Messi.

ITN Source | October 2, 2007

Tags:. .won. .strong. .october. .fear. .process