DANI ALVES has ordered his Barca team-mates to go for the throat tonight.

Posted Wednesday, May 01, 2013 by thesun.co.uk

RAISING THE BAR ... Alves says Barcelona must set new heights to overcome Bayern

The Spanish giants are 4-0 down to Bayern Munich after the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.

But Brazilian defender Alves reckons his team can pull off the mother of all comebacks if they tear into the Germans at the Nou Camp.

Alves declared: “We must be 2-0 up at half-time, that’s a minimum requirement.

“We’ll give it everything. For us this match is like the final itself and we are obliged to give 200 per cent.

“If we score quickly it will help us because that will get Bayern thinking and nerves could set in.

“We are a team that increases its level of performance in our very worst moments and now we need to be at our very best.

“Bayern might be a big team — but so are we. And if the Germans arrive here relaxed in any way at all that will be a big error. Now is the moment for revenge.”

Barcelona will bank on a fully fit Lionel Messi to achieve the almost impossible comeback.

After a poor performance in Germany last week, the mercurial Argentine was back to his best at the weekend in scoring a sublime goal and setting up Alexis Sanchez in the 2-2 draw with Athletic Bilbao.

Messi has now scored in TWENTY consecutive La Liga games.

As well as his 44 league goals this term, the little magician also has eight in Europe.

Barcelona turned around a 2-0 first-leg deficit in their last-16 showdown with AC Milan and Messi led a string of stars who say they can stop the German machine.

Messi said: “The comeback is very complicated. Bayern are a very good team but we’ll try.

“We can reach the final but we need to soar in attack, take all our chances and try to put Bayern under pressure.”

Midfielder Andres Iniesta added: “The defeat in Germany was a pain for us. It will be extremely difficult to pull back a 4-0 lead but, if any team can do it, Barcelona can.

“In Munich we didn’t show up. Now we need to keep the ball and to be successful in front of goal. We must be more committed to this match than any other this season. We are ready to go to the limit.”

Centre-back Gerard Pique said: “This is a day when we should all become kids again to be as excited and hopeful as they are and lose our commonsense a little bit. That might get us through.”

Barcelona are sweating on the fitness of Iniesta’s midfield pal Sergio Busquets.

He has been sidelined by a groin problem and was replaced by Alex Song against Bilbao.

Only three clubs have overturned a four-goal first-leg deficit in UEFA competition.

But Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes was on the losing side on one of those occasions.

The 67-year-old was in charge of the Borussia Moenchengladbach side that beat Real Madrid 5-1 at home in the 1985-86 UEFA Cup third round only to lose the return game 4-0.

Elimination for Barca would leave La Liga as their only chance of silverware this season.

They have an 11-point lead over current champions Real Madrid with five games left and are close to a fourth title in five seasons.

However, a domestic league crown would be seen as a poor return for a team who have set a new standard for European clubs in recent seasons and won the Champions League in 2009 and 2011.

Coach Tito Vilanova said: “We are Barca and we cannot give up on a tie, there are still 90 minutes left.

“I don’t think Bayern believe it is over, either. If we lose, at least we have to do it with our heads held high and playing on until the end.”