Barcelona look certain to punch their ticket to the semifinals
Barcelona are in prime position to make a return to the semifinals of the Champions League.
The last time Barcelona reached the Champions League semifinal was back in the 2014/2015 season when they won the tournament under Luis Enrique. Since then, the club has been knocked out in the quarter-finals. They’ve been knocked out by the likes of Atletico Madrid, Roma, and Roma in the infamous collapse in Rome last season.
They now find themselves up a goal ahead of the second leg in their clash with Manchester United. With the emphasis on the Champions League this season, Barcelona needs to learn from their exit last season and underestimate United.
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In his press conference, Valverde said, “We cannot speculate. We simply have to impose our style. Our idea is to win the game and not come out thinking we have an advantage.”
With Ousmane Dembélé recovered from his injury, expect the Frenchman to start in place of Philippe Coutinho as Barcelona will look to use his pace against a suspect United backline. They rested a significant number of players in their scoreless draw against Huesca in preparation for this game.
The feeling that they’re already through is one that they cannot allow themselves to fall into as Ernesto Valverde alluded to. Despite Manchester United looking feeble in the first leg, they were the team that managed to come back against PSG to reach this point. Perhaps that overconfidence is what did them in against Roma last season. Even with Valverde coming back next season, another early exit from the Champions League may mean the end of his tenure at Barcelona.
In favour of the Catalan side is the fact that they are nearly unbeatable at home in this competition. The last time Barcelona lost at home was in 2012-2013 when they lost 3-0 to Bayern Munich in the late Tito Vilanova’s first and only season as manager.
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The numbers are on their side and if all goes well, Barcelona will have a date with Liverpool to see which one of them advances to the final at the Wanda Metropolitano.