There is so much resting on Wednesday’s return leg between Barcelona and Manchester City. The vast torrent of money which flows into a club’s financial reservoirs for progression. The job security of both Manuel Pellegrini and Luis Enrique. The fascinating battle of pride and self-respect between Spanish and English football. Might it become part of all of England’s representatives exiting the Champions League before the quarter-finals? Xavi (left) and Frank Lampard have been two legends of Champions League football over the past decade . Lampard could be playing his final Champions League game if he faces Barcelona on Wednesday . Lampard has been on the fringes of the Manchester City team since extending his loan spell . The culture clash is slighter than usual given that City are self-acknowledged pretenders to the Barcelona crown. Development, passing style, player selection, executive stewardship — they want to squeeze the best out of what Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff and then Pep Guardiola instilled in the Catalan club, but with added Anglo-Saxon steel, organisation, petro-dollar resources and hungry, aspirational fans. However, the Champions League is a wider tasting plate than that. This is where ‘the greats’ measure themselves. And, sadly, two of the all-time European greats, Xavi and Frank Lampard, face the prospect of arriving at the Nou Camp at about 7.30pm Spanish time, not being listed in the starting XIs... then one of them leaving in the knowledge that that was their last ever night in the competition. What a sore thought. Xavi is a club legend at Barcelona, but has also become increasingly a fringe player this season . When he has played, Xavi is still providing assists, and is a vital part of the set-up off the pitch too . Xavi, who Barcelona’s managing director was trying to sell when I arrived in this city in 2002, is the leading all-time appearance maker in the Champions League. Thirty-eight matches ahead of the next active outfield player — Cristiano Ronaldo. Even if CR7 inspired Madrid to retain their trophy this season, then won the next two Champions Leagues consecutively, he’d still be seven matches short of tying the Catalan. The 35-year-old has three winner’s medals, two more than Lampard, who is a year-and-a-half older. But in reality, Xavi has played precisely an hour less in Champions League Finals. A horrible knee injury in 2006 meant he never stepped off the bench against Arsenal when Barca came back from a 1-0 deficit and won 2-1 thanks to Samuel Eto’o and Juliano Belletti. In his other two triumphs, 2009 and 2011, he gave fabulous goal assists for Lionel Messi’s header in Rome and Pedro’s opener against Edwin van der Sar at Wembley. Lampard was a different case. He confessed to me that after so many semi-final disappointments, following the horror of losing in Moscow (where he scored), it felt a little as if Chelsea were cursed. Precisely the opposite of how he felt the last time he was in this stadium. Lampard is due to join MLS club New York City at the end of the season, while Xavi rejected the same move . The Chelsea legend has been a Champions League mainstay for over a decade, but could bow out this week . Few pick it out now but not only was his performance for Chelsea in the 2012 semi-final precisely what City require tonight from someone, his return pass to Ramires to make it 2-1 was exquisite. Javier Mascherano’s thumping challenge sets Lampard back a pace but holds it off and holds the ball. Off-balance and facing the wrong way, he slots a delicious right-footed, slide-rule through Xavi, Carles Puyol and Sergio Busquets for Ramires to stride on to and lob Victor Valdés. One of the great assists. He had already done something similar in the first leg, robbing Messi of the ball with precisely the kind of sharp, anticipatory pressing which City have lacked across three consecutive defeats to Barca. Then a fabulous reverse-pass for Ramires to set up Didier Drogba’s close-range winner. I had the great fortune to interview Lampard in the dressing room of the Allianz Arena in Munich about an hour after Chelsea beat Bayern in that dramatic 120-minute final. Penalties. He scored his, of course. Third taker in Moscow, third taker in Munich. Back of the net. Frank Lampard celebrates with the Champions League after the 2012 victory over Bayern Munich . He was cradling the cup with the big ears and told me: ‘We’ve been a group since the troubled times, since we beat Barcelona.’ The Nou Camp was his turning point. The catalyst to him finally winning this tournament. Right now he feels stagnant, frustrated. Why stay at City, rather than begin the season properly with New York City if Pellegrini isn’t going to play him regularly? It was City’s initiative, not Lampard’s, to stay on beyond the initial few months which were agreed. Xavi would understand. His appearances since deciding to turn down moves to New York City, who admit they still want him to join David Villa and Lampard, or to Qatar, have been limited. When picked, he’s performed — goal assists in his last couple of matches. When not picked, he’s been a voice for calm and reason at times when Luis Enrique’s first term threatened to degenerate into chaos. Xavi, as captain, played a huge role in calming stormy waters between Luis Enrique and Messi in early January when the former dropped the latter for the defeat at Real Sociedad and the Argentine then, coincidentally, didn’t come in to train the following day. All of which followed a stand-up row between the genius and the iron-fist coach in training. Xavi brokered peace. Xavi holds the record for most games played in the Champions League, 38 games ahead of his nearest rival . If Cristiano Ronaldo won the Champions League this season and the two that follow, he'd still be behind Xavi . I’ve spoken to both Lampard and Xavi about the other. The Catalan will admit that tracking his English opponent has been a nightmare. Perpetual motion, perpetual determination to haul his team forward, make them competitive. Lampard once told me that England’s 2009 defeat to Spain in Seville, featuring him, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, was the first real experience in his career where one midfield simply couldn’t get the ball off the other. It was both galling and educational to him. It’s feasible that next season the two are in midfield together for New York. It very nearly happened in 2004 when Lampard’s agent represented Patrick Vieira. Called to meet Txiki Begiristain at the Nou Camp, it became clear that the Frenchman signing wasn’t feasible but Begiristain demanded to know how he could bring Lampard instead. Ten years later, for City, Begiristain joined the dots. But when Xavi was asked to name his best ‘England’ XI, it contained Lampard — in a 3-5-2 of Forster: Ferdinand, Campbell, Terry; Giggs, Scholes, Gascoigne, Lampard, Gerrard; Walcott, Rooney . His rationale was: ‘He’s one of the very few midfielders who scores a striker’s number of goals — which is a mark of greatness — and he’s technically excellent.’ And Xavi told the Guardian’s Sid Lowe about England’s style that it had been ‘...no football. Carragher, boom, up top; Terry, boom, up top. I think it’s changing: Lampard, Gerrard… they are players who treat the ball [well]. You see them now and you think, dammit, they are trying to play!’ So, however it goes on Wednesday, here’s a plea to the coaches: Let them play.
One of these two could play their final Champions League game this week . Both Xavi and Frank Lampard have been fringe players this season . Both still have plenty to offer, but Lampard is moving to New York City . Xavi still brings assists, but is used increasingly infrequently .