Injury worries plague Barca

Defending champions missing key players in search of first win; Arsenal face Olympiakos at home....

Injury concerns over Thierry Henry and Dmytro Chygrynskiy arent helping Pep Guardiolas preparations for a Champions League match against Dynamo Kiev which Barcelona need to win to kickstart their title defence.

Despite winning all five Spanish League games to be neck and neck with Real Madrid in the domestic competition,Barcelona were held 0-0 by Italian champions Inter Milan in Champions League group play two weeks ago and now face the side at the top,Kiev having won their opening match against Russias Rubin Kazan.

Another draw or a loss would put pressure on Guardiola and he could go into Tuesdays game at Camp Nou without both striker Henry and Ukraine defender Chygrynskiy,who were both injured in Saturdays victory at Malaga in La Liga. Henry is a doubtful starter with a left thigh injury while Chygrynskiy,signed from UEFA Cup winner Shakhtar Donetsk on the final day of the transfer window,has knee ligament damage and is out for up to three weeks.

Home comfort

At least Barca easily won that game against Malaga and France defender Eric Abidal believes their domestic form has given the Spanish club a boost to beat Kiev at home. It is always better to win before a Champions League game to give you confidence, Abidal said. Dynamo won their opening match against Rubin Kazan and we drew. We know that all Champions League games are hard to win but we are preparing well for this one.

Despite the new injury problems,Barcelona have the strength in depth to beat the Ukraine champions at home in a competition where all the leading contenders avoided defeats in the opening round of games and should be confident of reaching the knockout phase.

Inter travel to meet the Russian champions in Group F and,although the winners of the last four Italian titles come off a 1-0 defeat at Sampdoria in the Serie A,they should rebound with a victory on Tuesday to stay in contention for a title they have not won since 1965.

Five-time European cup winners Liverpool visit Fiorentina in Group E and are level on points with Lyon,who go to Hungarian league champions Debrecen. A 6-1 victory over Hull on Saturday is the ideal preparation with Fernando Torres scoring three times for Liverpool. He is the kind of player who can change a game and the way he is working at the moment you can see the best from him, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez said.

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Arsenal and Olympiakos both won their opening games in Group H and meet at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday,when AZ Alkmaar welcome Standard Liege. Sevilla top Group G and face a lively atmosphere at Rangers on Tuesday,while Stuttgart head for Romanian champion Unirea Urziceni buoyed by a 3-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt,where Julian Schieber scored twice.