Barça arrive in Milan seeking to top its Champions League group

Barcelona (FCB).- FC Barcelona are back in Milan for the first time since their semi final appearance in the 2009/10 Champions League, only that time it was to play Inter. The injured Iniesta is the main absentee, with Adriano and Afellay also out through injury and Alves suspended. Barça’s assistant coach Tito Vilanova stays home for surgery.

Barça team touched town in Lombardy shortly before 12.00 noon and were taken directly to their hotel. In the early evening, captain Carles Puyol and manager Pep Guardiola will be talking to the press before the squad trains at 19.00 on the San Siro turf.

Iniesta will not play against AC Milan

Andrés Iniesta will miss the game against AC Milan as Guardiola decided to rest him as a precautionary measure following the knock he picked up against Zaragoza on last Saturday’s Spanish League game.

Tito Vilanova stays home for surgery

Tito Vilanova will not be joining Pep Guardiola on the San Siro bench on Wednesday. The assistant manager has not flown to Italy because he is instead having a parotid gland surgery in the maxillofacial ward at Hospital Vall d’Hebron.

Huge away support

The FC Barcelona expedition will be joined by some 4,700 travelling Barcelona fans in the San Siro. It is the biggest away support that the club has ever taken for a game in the group stages of the Champions League.

FC Barcelona President going on Wednesday

Barça President Sandro Rosell is also planning to fly to Italy to see his side in the Champions League, but stayed behind today to oversee the final negotiations of the renewal of basketball player Juan Carlos Navarro’s contract. The team was accompanied today by Antoni Freixa, Eduard Coll and Manel Arroyo, as well as sports director for professional football Andoni Zubizarreta, who spoke to the media before catching the flight.