Manchester United host Barcelona in the second leg of the Europa League playoffs on Thursday at Old Trafford looking to capitalize on their two away- goal advantage.
The two sides played to a two all draw in the first leg. They once again face-off in this leg to determine who advances to the last 16 of the Europa League.
Erik Ten Hag’s men go into this game in a bouyant mood following their weekend’s 3-0 win over Leicester city, thanks to Marcus Rashford’s brace and Jadon Sancho’s brilliant strike which ensured that the home side maintained their impressive unbeaten home run that now reads 15 games.
The hosts will bank on Rashford’s scoring prowess that has seen him notch 24 goals for the season so far. The forward is expected to spearhead the attack alongside Sancho and Alejandro Garnacho.
Antony Dos Santos and Wout Weghorst are other options available while Casemiro , Fred and Bruno Fernandez will be deployed in midfield. The backline will have Rafael Varane, Lisandro Martinez,Luke Shaw and Diogo Dalot with David De Gea between the posts.
Barcelona maintained their domestic form where they defeated Cadiz 2-0 with strikes from Sergi Roberto and Robert Lewandowski to maintain their eight point lead over Real Madrid at the top of the Laliga table.
The Camp Nou side is enjoying the campaign thus far, but when asked to comment about his opponents, Barca’s tactician Xavi, according to the Manchester Evening News said;
He (Ten Hag) is very good, I like him a lot. He has built a team and is getting the best out of all his players. That speaks well of him. Tactically he is very good and he handles the dressing room very well. He is getting all the talent out of his players, You see Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, the Portuguese guy (Bruno Fernandez) and look how Fred is playing
The visitors will bank on their leading marksman Lewandowski who is expected to be at his best to lead the Blaugrana to the next stage having already scored 27 goals this season.
TEAM NEWS
Manchester United welcome back Antony and Harry Maguire from injury while Antony Martial, Donny Van de Beek and Christian Eriksen are still sidelined.
Barcelona welcome back Sergio Busquets, but will be without Gavi, Ousmane Dembele and Pedri.
