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| Manchester United v Barcelona: Champions League quarter-final, first leg – live! | Manchester United v Barcelona: Champions League quarter-final, first leg – live! |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| 6 min: Fred does well to close down Messi on the edge of the area, preventing him from getting off a shot after Semedo fed him. McTominay then followed up with an important tackle, too. Those midfielders are going to have to be as dynamic and precise as that all evening judging by how much possession Barcelona have had so far. | |
| 5 min: Rashford bangs a wobbly freekick a couple of yards wide of the far post. Interestingly, Barcelona erected only a small wall. Always wonder why more teams don’t do that when the freekick is far out, given that walls often block keepers’ views rather than the attackers shot. | |
| 4 min: Busquets concedes a freekick with a wild tackle from behind on McTominay. He should have been booked. Perhaps United can apply punishment from the setpiece, which is about 25 yards out, a little to the right of the D. | |
| 3 min: United are struggling to get the ball as Barça set up camp in their half. Pogba is the most left-leaning of the midfield quartet (in formation terms, no idea about his political views). | |
| 2 min: Suarez is booed as he scurries down the left wing, and then Smalling gets a cheer for dispossessing him. Meanwhile, it looks like Dalot is at right-back, with Young in front of him. | |
| 1 min: We have kickoff! Barcelona do the necessary and immediately begin knocking the ball about, just like in their warmup | |
| Old Trafford is uncharacteristically loud as the teams enter the arena. United fans are in good voice. Their team are wearing their famous red jerseys and white shorts and socks, while Barcelona are clad in fluorescent yellow. | |
| The teams are in the tunnel. De Gea is embracing most of the Barça team. Ashley Young, United’s captain, reaches over for a quick hug with his counterpart, Lionel Messi. That’s what peers do, you see. | |
| “This Barcelona team are always going to be strong in attack but Man U can trouble them,” trumpets Lee Madden. “Although they top La Liga, Barcelona have conceded more goals than Atletico Madrid (+10) , Getafe (+4) and Valencia (+5). Man U’s front line should be aiming to score at least twice, as you’ve got to assume Barca will score once in any given game.” | |
| There’s a fan in the crowd wearing a big Bulgaria flag. Is he pining for Dimitar Berbatov? Or maybe he’s trying to give United flashbacks to the time Hristo Stoichkov took them to the cleaners? | |
| “We need to improve on the first leg [of the PSG tie]. We know we need to play better at home. It’s down to us to try to dominant the game. If we let them dominate, we’re in for a hard game. So that’s part of the battle, to maybe take control of the ball.” | |
| He’s unsure how long Rashford will be able to last because he’s just recovered his fitness. “But you know Rash, he lives for these games.”. | |
| The teams are on the pitch at Old Trafford going through their pre-game stretches and what not. “Lionel Messi warms exactly how he wants to warm up,” announces Steve McManaman, almost swooning. That warm-up, by the way, seems to involve some gentle stroking the ball about and the occasional caress of a baroque tattoo on his left leg (the tattoo appears to feature a ball and a hand, no doubt Messi’s own tribute to Diego Maradona). | |
| If things go well today, this match could be worthy of a recap by Rob Smyth, who’s done a splendid Joy of Six on great United-Barcelona meetings. Lookit: | If things go well today, this match could be worthy of a recap by Rob Smyth, who’s done a splendid Joy of Six on great United-Barcelona meetings. Lookit: |
| The Joy of Six: Barcelona v Manchester United | The Joy of Six: Barcelona v Manchester United |
| BT’s pundits reckon United will play a 4-5-1, with Dalot at right-back and Young in midfield in front of him. That would be less risky than the other version being bandied about, which has Dalot as a Messi-tracking midfield operative. So, United fans, on a scale of one to Zlatan, how confident are you? | BT’s pundits reckon United will play a 4-5-1, with Dalot at right-back and Young in midfield in front of him. That would be less risky than the other version being bandied about, which has Dalot as a Messi-tracking midfield operative. So, United fans, on a scale of one to Zlatan, how confident are you? |
| “Presumably Coutinho is in the starting XI in the hope that someone in the UK will like what they see?” parps Charles Antaki. “Surely some will take pity and free him from His Barcelona Hell?” Indeed. Pray for Coutinho. | “Presumably Coutinho is in the starting XI in the hope that someone in the UK will like what they see?” parps Charles Antaki. “Surely some will take pity and free him from His Barcelona Hell?” Indeed. Pray for Coutinho. |
| Ander Herrera is not available for United today and that’s something they’re going to have to get used to - because he’s close to agreeing a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Let Jamie Jackson tell you more: | Ander Herrera is not available for United today and that’s something they’re going to have to get used to - because he’s close to agreeing a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Let Jamie Jackson tell you more: |
| Manchester United’s Ander Herrera close to joining PSG in summer | Manchester United’s Ander Herrera close to joining PSG in summer |
| Are you United playing a back three? Or is it a back four with Dalot deployed as some fashion of protective midfielder, probably towards United’s left, where Messi will be looking to make merry. | Are you United playing a back three? Or is it a back four with Dalot deployed as some fashion of protective midfielder, probably towards United’s left, where Messi will be looking to make merry. |
| United: De Gea; Young, Smalling, Lindelof, Shaw; Fred, McTominay, Pogba, Dalot; Lukaku, Rashford | United: De Gea; Young, Smalling, Lindelof, Shaw; Fred, McTominay, Pogba, Dalot; Lukaku, Rashford |
| Subs: Romero, Jones, Mata, Martial, Lingard, Pereira, Rojo | Subs: Romero, Jones, Mata, Martial, Lingard, Pereira, Rojo |
| Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Suarez, Coutinho | Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Suarez, Coutinho |
| Subs: Cillessen, Dembélé, Malcom, Roberto, Vidal, Umtiti, Alena | Subs: Cillessen, Dembélé, Malcom, Roberto, Vidal, Umtiti, Alena |
| Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Ita) | Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Ita) |
| Hello. How do you follow up a miracle? Maybe by beating the team powered by Lionel Messi. Manchester United can always look back fondly on a thrilling night in Paris in the last round but they have lost three of their four matches since then and there is a risk of their sensational comeback against Paris Saint-Germain being recorded by historians as the set-up to an epic humiliation at the hands of Barcelona. Unless, of course, United actually overcome today’s visitors to Old Trafford, which would mean surpassing anything they have done so far under Ole Gunnar Solskjær or, indeed, Jose Mourinho and Louis Van Gaal. United haven’t even been at this stage of the Champions League since the glory, glory days of David Moyes. | Hello. How do you follow up a miracle? Maybe by beating the team powered by Lionel Messi. Manchester United can always look back fondly on a thrilling night in Paris in the last round but they have lost three of their four matches since then and there is a risk of their sensational comeback against Paris Saint-Germain being recorded by historians as the set-up to an epic humiliation at the hands of Barcelona. Unless, of course, United actually overcome today’s visitors to Old Trafford, which would mean surpassing anything they have done so far under Ole Gunnar Solskjær or, indeed, Jose Mourinho and Louis Van Gaal. United haven’t even been at this stage of the Champions League since the glory, glory days of David Moyes. |
| Today United are going to have to strike a dicey balance. They will want to get at least a narrow lead to take to the Nou Camp and that will require scoring, something they have only managed once in four Champions League matches at Old Trafford this season. But they won’t want to leave themselves too open, otherwise Barça could kill the tie with a salvo of away goals. Solskjær must know, however, that no matter how he approaches the game, Barcelona are capable of tearing his defence apart. And Barcelona know the importance of an away goal, because failure to score even one has led to them being eliminated at this stage of the competition in each of the last three years. That fact alone shows that Barça are not quite as mighty as they once were, but they’re still pretty darn good. And they’ll still got Messi. And Luis Suarez, who, you’ve got to think, would take much pleasure in scoring at Old Trafford. David De Gea is going to have to be in top form. And so, too, is Paul Pogba. The eyes of the world, including Real Madrid, are on him. So then, to quote Chris Smalling, bring it on. | Today United are going to have to strike a dicey balance. They will want to get at least a narrow lead to take to the Nou Camp and that will require scoring, something they have only managed once in four Champions League matches at Old Trafford this season. But they won’t want to leave themselves too open, otherwise Barça could kill the tie with a salvo of away goals. Solskjær must know, however, that no matter how he approaches the game, Barcelona are capable of tearing his defence apart. And Barcelona know the importance of an away goal, because failure to score even one has led to them being eliminated at this stage of the competition in each of the last three years. That fact alone shows that Barça are not quite as mighty as they once were, but they’re still pretty darn good. And they’ll still got Messi. And Luis Suarez, who, you’ve got to think, would take much pleasure in scoring at Old Trafford. David De Gea is going to have to be in top form. And so, too, is Paul Pogba. The eyes of the world, including Real Madrid, are on him. So then, to quote Chris Smalling, bring it on. |
| Kick off: 8pm BST | Kick off: 8pm BST |