Overmars: 'It's win or bust'

The many disparate nationalities that make up FC Barcelona speak with one voice about tonight's UEFA Champions League quarter-final return with Panathinaikos FC: it must end in victory or their season is over.

Pressure mounts
Indeed, the pressure has been cranked up another notch but the highly paid stars at the Camp Nou are all big-occasion performers. Marc Overmars for example was at AFC Ajax when, in 1996, they turned round a 1-0 home defeat in the Champions League semi-final to go through 3-1 on aggregate. The opposition on that occasion? Panathinaikos.

'I have a good feeling'
Overmars is confident of a repeat in Spain and says: "I have a good feeling about the game because if you look at our opportunities for this season it is all we have left. The league has gone and the cup has gone. If we want to play in the Champions League next season we have to win it this year or finish as high as we can in La Liga. There is no other way tonight than to win and we are not thinking about anything else."

Athens regrets
He added: "The Champions League final is such a big experience and all the young players here need to taste it. I have played in two finals and I am desperate to do it one more time. We had regrets in Athens not because of the penalty decision but because we felt we could win. We intend to put that right at home."

World Cup factor
Overmars introduces another ingredient that could help decide the tie: the FIFA World Cup factor. Indeed, Barcelona have four senior Dutchmen who could line up alongside Overmars tonight and with the Netherlands not going to Korea/Japan they have everything to play for. "We have nothing to do in the summer and of course that is an extra motivation in games like this."

'So much pressure'
To do that Barcelona will need to improve their home form which saw them fail to win any of their three fixtures in the second group stage at Camp Nou. "Clubs like us should be winning nine out of every ten games at home and there is no explanation for it other than to say that when you get past the first phase in the Champions League there is so much pressure on both teams that it can make it difficult to attack as much as you would like," Overmars added.

Key role
European glory would be a nice end to a season for the former Arsenal FC flyer who began it with cartilage problems which were then compounded by a virus infection. With Rivaldo recently sidelined Overmars has begun to play a significant part in the campaign and he was one of Barcelona's more effective performers in the first game.

Fantasy football
Now the Brazilian is fit to bring his extravagant gifts to bear from the start while Javier Saviola is brimming with confidence after scoring twice at the weekend. Patrick Kluivert and Luis Enrique are free of suspension to further intensify competition for striking places and coach Carles Rexach could even use all five offensive players thereby bringing fantasy football to life. It promises to be another colourful night inside Camp Nou.