VfB Stuttgart's Aliaksandr Hleb predicts Arsenal to face Barcelona in Champions League final

EXCLUSIVE

It was not really the kind of welcome home party that Aliaksandr Hleb had hoped for on his return to the Camp Nou. Barca swept aside Hleb's current team VfB Stuttgart 4-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday evening to reach the quarter-finals of the competition.

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The irony of it all is that the 28-year-old is still officially a Barcelona player. He is out on loan for the season to his former Bundesliga club after failing to make an impact for the Blaugrana.

In the summer, Hleb became the pawn in the Catalan outfit's move for Zlatan Ibrahimovic who switched from Inter to Barca while Samuel Eto'o donned his boots and went the other way. Hleb and a sum of money were part of the sweetener for the Italians, but after rejecting the move to Inter, the midfielder soon found himself back on familiar territory in Stuttgart.

It's the club where it all started for him. Signed on in 2000, he spent five seasons there before coming under the radar of Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. Under the watchful eye of the Frenchman, Hleb produced some of his best football and eventually joined the ranks at Barcelona. In 2008 he switched to the Catalan giants, but failed to secure a first team berth.

So how disappointing was it to have to come back in the circumstances of a 4-0 drubbing?

"Yeah of course it was a disappointment," Hleb told Goal.com.

"We really wanted to fight and get through to the next round. But Barcelona showed us how to play at this level. We made a lot of mistakes in the first half.

"And after it was 2-0, Barcelona controlled the game and it became difficult. You know we saw that Stuttgart still has a lot to learn."

It's a fair assessment given that the Germans needed to score goals to have a chance to qualify but instead conceded space and played on the back foot.

Stuttgart deserted their tactical plan on the night and Hleb believes that an attack of the nerves also played a part.

"We tried to play a compact game and then to create some chances," he added.

"But you know we began to lose easy balls and I think some of our players became nervous. It's not everyday that you get to play in a stadium like the Camp Nou against a team like Barcelona."

Hleb may not have been a regular starter for the Blaugrana, but he knows about the capabilities of the players. And frighteningly for other teams who yet have to face the European champions, he feels that Lionel Messi is still not playing near his best level.

"No, no way," Hleb commented when asked if the Argentine is at his best.

"He has played much better than this in other games. We just gave him way too much space which is different to the way we played him in Germany.

"And of course when you give Messi too much space he can do anything. We completely failed to press him."

Despite Barca's dominating performance, Hleb doesn't feel that a second successive Champions League title is done and dusted.

"Barcelona have to be the favourites, but you see it every time in football that anything can happen," he continued.

"Look at what happened to Chelsea, against Inter, we saw it with Sevilla [losing to CSKA Moscow] too and of course Real Madrid [who lost to Olympique Lyonnais]. So its difficult to say anything for sure."

Hleb also has a good feeling for his former club Arsenal. The midfielder played in the 2006 Champions league final when the Gunners lost to Barcelona, and reckons history could repeat itself in 2010.

"I think Arsenal are doing really well at the moment," the Belarusian went on. 

"They are only one of two English teams left this time. They are doing well and playing well, and I just have this feeling that Arsenal and Barcelona will reach the final."

The remainder of the season is going to be a hard one now. Stuttgart are some 19 points away from a Champions League place in the Bundesliga, and having been knocked out of the cup, there seems to be little left to play for.

While Hleb has played for most of the season, he has failed to find the net, but does he see himself staying on after his loan deal expires?

"Oh that's a really difficult question to answer at this moment," he added.

"I have a contract with Barcelona and after this season finishes I will be back in Barcelona."

Hleb may well be out of the Champions League, but come the end of the season, he could back at a club which are the European champions.

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