Barcelona optimistic

            But despite the scoreline being heavily in the Italians' favour, there was still confidence among supporters that arguably the best generation of players the club has ever produced could pull off a European night to remember.One, two, three, to the quarters!" ran the headline in sports daily El Mundo Deportivo, predicting that "after three weeks of waiting, the hour of the great comeback has arrived".Mundo Deportivo called the Argentine "the man of the last-16" thanks to his incredible tally of 10 goals in home ties at this stage of the competition in the past four seasons.But there was also concern that the four-time World Player of the Year has failed to find the net from open play in nine games against Italian opposition in the Champions League.The other Barcelona sport daily, Sport, struck a similar tone, plastering the words "the comeback is possible" across their front page 17 times.Yet despite comfortably leading La Liga, Barca have lost three of their last five games, as defeat in the San Siro was followed up by back-to-back defeats at the hands of perennial arch rivals Real Madrid.El Mundo said that the messages inside and outside the dressing room are ones of faith and confidence of going through to the quarter-finals As ever, the main focus was on how Lionel Messi could influence the game with past records that create both a positive and negative picture for Barca analysed.Inside they claimed that "the best Barca in history are capable of offering a magic night in the Champions League to their fans" and that "the Nou Camp will live a special night with only one thought: eliminating Milan
Belief in the Blaugrana is based more on their history than recent results, though. Barca have progressed to the semi-finals of the competition for the last five seasons and even gone on to win the competition three times in the past eight years.