Manchester United welcome Barcelona in a blockbuster clash


By Neo Poho

After playing out to an entertaining 2-2 draw at Camp Nou last week Thursday in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League playoffs, Manchester United will host Barcelona at Old Trafford in the second leg of the Europa League playoffs on Thursday night.

United who are on an unbeaten run of 8 matches in all competitions head into the clash on Thursday night at the back of a 3-0 victory against Leicester City in the English Premier League with forward Marcus Rashford on a good run of form in front of goal.

With the away goals rule no longer applying in European football, the tie is back where it began ahead of the rematch and it surely promises to be an enthralling one at the Theater of dreams.

Manchester United won the Leicester City match on Sunday without the services of Anthony and Harry Maguire however, manager Erik ten Hag has mentioned that the Brazilian midfielder Anthony and Harry Maguire would be both available for selection on Thursday when the side takes on Barcelona.

"We still have training to do but I expect Harry Maguire and Anthony to be available however, Anthony Martial is still not available and we will continue to monitor his situation very closely, we obviously have a game plan to be different from the first leg and I believe we will be able to execute it so that we can win and progress to the next round," Erik ten Hag said.

Ten Hag furthermore stated the encounter against Barcelona will be won firstly in the mind of his players than on the pitch, "The focus is to progress to the next round and we have to keep that as our primary mindset, against a team like Barcelona we need to fully focused and give our best to get into the next round," Ten Hag added.

Meaning Barcelona will be without midfielders Pedri and Gavi as the former is injured and the latter is suspended, so veteran midfielder Sergio Busquets could return.

Busquets has not played since the 5th of February due to an ankle injury but he was named on the bench in the weekend win over Cadiz in La Liga.

Speaking on the absence of Pedri and Gavi, Ten Hag mentioned that he doesn't necessarily know how Barcelona manager Xavi will tweak his team to adjust and play without the two superstars.

"The absence of Pedri and Gavi will not cause much of an impact because Barcelona are a team that naturally has so much depth that the players that will be selected to replace Gavi and Pedri will be as good as the latter to cause problems for us but we will be ready for anything," Ten Hag alluded.

With Manchester United still in the running for the English Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and the Europa League, Ten Hag has boldly confirmed that United is gunning for all of them, "We want to win everything and we will give our all in all of these competitions to win,"

United will face Newcastle United on Sunday the 26th of February in the Carabao Cup final at the Wembley Stadium in a bid to secure their first silverware in six years.

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Football

UEFA Europa League

Manchester United

Barcelona

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