Barcelona must be careful not to underestimate Man United

Barcelona face off against Manchester United as clear favorites but need to be weary of not underestimating the Premiere League side.

When the draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League took place, Barcelona drawing Manchester United was rightly seen as a favorable draw for the Spanish giants. As the first leg of the match approaches, not much hope has been given to Man United given both clubs recent form. However, considering the path both took to get here, anything can happen and Barcelona need to be careful ahead of their trip to Old Trafford.

Barcelona got past Lyon at home after yet another spectacular performance by Lionel Messi. But it wasn’t without its drama as the French side managed to give the Catalans a scare. On the other side, Manchester United miraculously got past Paris-Saint Germain by beating them in France after losing the first leg at home.

What will make Manchester United dangerous is the fact that they are playing with house money. No one expected them to get past PSG. Especially with the way they had been playing and that they were being coached by an interim manager in Ole Gunner Solskjaer. With Solskjaer at the helm, they seem to have found a renewed spirit and players like Paul Pogba are playing some of their best football since joining them. That attitude that they have nothing to lose should be a motivating factor in going after Barcelona and we’ve seen lesser teams like Real Betis and Sevilla pull off wins by not being afraid to attack Barcelona.

For Barcelona, they desperately want to win the Champions League and Messi said as much prior to the start of their season. What Ernesto Valverde’s side need to do is keep possession and be quick on the counter. United’s defense can be got at but with Philippe Coutinho likely to start and Ousmane Dembele still not fully fit, Lionel Messi will have to be the one to lead any such counter and hope that one of Coutinho or Luis Suarez have their scoring boots on. Defensively, Gerard Pique will need to continue performing the way he has all season. He’s their best defender and we saw how much Barcelona suffered when he wasn’t playing in their away match against Villarreal.

Barcelona have won their last two meetings against Manchester United in the Champions League. Both took place in the final of the 2009 and 2011 respectively. But the last time these two teams met in a two-legged affair back in the 2007-08 season, it was United who got past Barcelona in the semi-final by a 1-0 aggregate.

Having been eliminated in the quarter-finals in each of the last four seasons, Barcelona are desperate to get past this stage and win the whole thing. They’ve seen Real Madrid celebrate a Champions League title the last four seasons and with them out of the competition, there will be a new champion. For Manchester United, they’ve got nothing to lose but everything to gain. They’re heavy underdogs and with the side looking rejuvenated since Jose Mourinho was fired, they know they can cause Barcelona problems.

The Catalan side want to avoid another Roma-like disaster. To do that, they’re gonna need a positive result at Old Trafford. Given their results away from home in the Champions League, this ti may not be as lopsided as it looks on paper.