Barcelona stars Samuel Eto'o and Xavi Hernandez are confident the Catalans can shatter Manchester United's dream of a place in next month's Champions League final.

After a goalless draw in Wednesday's semifinal first leg at the Nou Camp, United are slight favourites to go through to the final in a year that has marked the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster.

But the calculations will all change if Barcelona can claim an away goal at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

"It is not a bad result," said Cameroonian striker Eto'o, who blasted Barca's best chance of the night into the side netting five minutes after half-time.

"We'll see how they play at their place. We did not score but we can score over there — if we score once they will have to get two and that will be hard for them."

Eto'o found the attentions of Rio Ferdinand difficult to escape on Wednesday night but he is still backing himself to score at Old Trafford.

"I'm very motivated to find the net," added the three-time African Player of the Year.

"As I've always said, it's not how you start games, it's how you finish them. Just like the Champions League final in Paris two years ago. We weren't the better team for much of the game but we won in the end."

Xavi acknowledged that Cristiano Ronaldo's early penalty miss had been a fortunate break for his side.

"I think a draw was fair," he said. "We had some good luck ourselves when Cristiano Ronaldo missed the penalty after just a minute or so.

"If he'd have scored the penalty, and it was a fair penalty, I've got no complaints, it would have made life very difficult."

"Manchester United will obviously have the crowd behind them and be very difficult to beat at Old Trafford but we've won away from home in our last two Champions league games (at Celtic and Schalke 04) and we played well here and I think we can play well there.

"Yes, it's a pity we couldn't score but we didn't concede a goal either. Overall, I think we gave a good account of ourselves though."

Barcelona's performance belied their poor domestic form but Xavi acknowledged that they are likely to be subject to far greater scrutiny by United in the second leg.

"I think Manchester United are going to fight hard next week, they'll fight harder than they did here in front of their own fans."

AFP