The Red Devils were outplayed during the first leg and were lucky
to come away with just a 1-0 loss. Luke Shaw’s first half own goal was the
difference, although Luis Suarez’s shot was headed into the goal regardless.
Manchester
United did
get back to winning ways at the weekend with a 2-1 victory over West Ham. The
Red Devils struggled through the game and only won thank to two penalties from
Paul Pogba.
The Frenchman
has 16 goals this season, but eight of them have come from the penalty spot
showing his scoring from open play has been lacking. Pogba was wholly ineffective against
Barcelona in the first leg in front of goal as he failed to register a shot.
Barcelona head
into the second leg at Camp Nou having drawn nil-nil with La Liga bottom club
Huesca on Sunday. Manager Ernesto Valverde rotated his side with only goalkeeper
Marc-Andre ter Stegen keeping his place.
The good
news for Barcelona was Ousmane Dembele played over 65 minutes of the fixture. The Frenchman is
getting his fitness back and could feature from the start against Manchester
United.
Valverde rested
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. Neither player was in the team and watched from
the stands. They will be well-rested for Manchester United’s arrival
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could have a trio of players back from
injury. Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic, and Alexis Sanchez are all in contention
for a spot in the Manchester United starting XI.
The trio missed
the first leg with Fred and Scott McTominay filling in for Herrera and Matic.
Shaw won’t play a part in the game as he serves a yellow card accumulation
suspension.
Manchester
United did overturn a two goal first leg deficit against Paris Saint-Germain in
the previous round. The problem is, the Red Devils must corral Suarez and
Messi, two players far more capable of causing Manchester United problems than
those who were in PSG’s squad.
Barcelona
must attack Manchester United as their deference has shown weaknesses over the
last two seasons. It was at this stage in
2017-18 that Barcelona took a 4-1 first-leg lead to Italy against Roma. The
Giallorossi scored three goals without reply to dump Barcelona out of the
tournament.
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