PEP GUARDIOLA insists he is out to bury the club that made his name on his first trip back to the Nou Camp for Wednesday night's Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona.

The 44-year-old Bayern Munich head coach won 14 trophies, twice establishing them as the kings of Europe, during four golden years in charge at the Catalan club, where he also enjoyed an illustrious playing career.

He is now hoping to guide Bayern to the most important prize in club football and finds Barca, managed by his former Blaugrana team-mate Luis Enrique, standing in the way of another appearance in the final.

Although he is likely to get a warm welcome from his former supporters, he insists that nothing will deflect his focus from securing victory for the Bundesliga champions.

"I am here not as a tribute, but I'm here to do my job with Bayern Munich to reach the final," he stated.

"Barcelona was the most important part in my life. Barcelona was everything, but I'm here to win.

"I have always been treated very well here, but we are here to work."

Guardiola has also refused to state whether he will celebrate should Bayern score.

"I don't know about celebrating the goals," he remarked. "I haven't thought about it.

"My respect for Barcelona doesn't depend on me celebrating or not. I want to win. We have prepared to give our best and I will be very happy if we score a goal, but I don't know what my reaction will be."

While the Bayern boss is wary of the threat of three-times world player of the year, Lionel Messi, he admitted the Argentina internationalist is "just too good" to be stopped when he is operating on full power.

He added: "It's almost impossible to play defensively against Barcelona. We have to attack. We need to score in Barcelona.

"If he is in top form, Messi is unstoppable. There is no defensive system that can stop him.

"He is just too good. It's difficult to find a weakness in Barcelona. Their players have been playing together for a long time and know one another very well."

Bayern have enjoyed a fine season with their domestic league title already secured, but their form has tailed off to a degree. Borussia Dortmund ended their treble hopes at the semi-final stage of the German Cup last week and they have arrived in Spain hard on the heels of a defeat at Bayer Leverkusen.

Striker Robert Lewandowski is expected to defy facial injuries to play. The Pole fractured his jaw and cheekbone in the cup defeat at the hands of Dortmund, but could start wearing a protective mask.

"I'll talk to him,." said Guardiola. "I want to know how he's feeling with the mask. Of course, we need 11 players who are 100 per cent.

"If he is fit, he will play, sure."

Lewandowski's presence will give Guardiola's men a lift with Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, David Alaba and Sebastian Rode missing through injury.

Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is certainly optimistic of taking a positive result back to Germany for the second leg next Tuesday.

"We are very confident," said Neuer. "We respect Barcelona, but they respect us too and I am sure the team will play at their best.

"To play against Luis Suárez, Messi and Neymar in such important games, you don't really change your approach. I know who they are and I know what their strong points are.

"We don't want to defend. We want to attack and show our strengths.

"It's important to score a goal. It's not important in which way we play at the back because we will be out to attack.

"We are the German champions. We always want to be at the top and I am optimistic about reaching the final."

Jerome Boateng faces a tough task as he comes up against Barca's formidable attacking trio of Messi,Suarez and Neymar, but the World Cup winner is not fazed.

"It's not just their strikers," said Boateng. "Barcelona have world-class players throughout their whole team.

"We know that it's going to be difficult at the Nou Camp, but we are Bayern Munich.

"We are heading there to get a result. We desperately want to make the final."