Manchester United vs Barcelona Preview

Manchester United and Barcelona will square up this Thursday for the second leg of their UEFA Europa League playoff game.

Both sides played out a 2-2 draw in the first leg at the Nou Camp to set up this must-win game that will see the winner advance to the competition’s knockout round.

Manchester United come into this tie on the back of an excellent 3-0 win over Leicester City with the in-form Marcus Rashford scoring a brace in the game. That win took them five points behind Arsenal in the title race.

And so, they still have an opportunity to win a historic quadruple given they have the Carabao Cup final to play on Sunday and are still in three other title races.

Ahead of this crucial week, they couldn’t have asked for a better place to be than at home for this match having lost just two of their last 11 UEFA home games (W6, D3), although both were 1-0 defeats against Spanish clubs. Furthermore, they have gone unbeaten in 17 competitive home matches (W15, D2) and will fancy their chances here against a Barca side that often flounder in Europe.

The Spanish giants have failed to transfer their domestic form to the European stage with a series of poor results this season. Yet, they have been in fine form in La Liga this season and come into this tie on the back of a 2-0 win over Cádiz on Sunday to maintain an eight-point lead at the top of La Liga.

That win made it an incredible 18-match unbeaten run (W16, D2) and means Barcelona are unlikely to be fazed by United’s recent home dominance. But an underwhelming record across their last nine UEFA road trips has seen Barca win just three times across their last nine away trips in Europe (D2, L4) and this will have Xavi worried.