Tuesday, 16 April 2019 21:00 BARCELONA TIME CAMP NOU B A R C E L O N A PREVIOUS MEETINGS UCL 10-04-2019 FT Manchester United 0 : 1 Barcelona ICC 27-07-2017 FT Barcelona 1 : 0 Manchester United ICC 25-07-2015 FT Barcelona 1 : 3 Manchester United ICWS 31-07-2011 FT Barcelona 1 : 2 Manchester United UCL 28-05-2011 FT Barcelona 3 : 1 Manchester United UCL 27-05-2009 FT Barcelona 2 : 0 Manchester United VISCAELBARCA
Suspended for this match. One booking away from missing potential Semi-final first leg. Barça: Busquets, Semedo Man Utd: Shaw, Herrera, Matić, Valencia, Young Note that any suspensions incurred through yellow/red card accumulation in this tie carries over into the semi-finals. For those who have lingering bookings after the final whistle, their slates are wiped clean after this round.
I hate to say it but if we get past Man U, we will get hammered by Liverpool. It doesn't help that Busquets also seems a lock to get booked.
Yes. I stated before the Round of 16 draw in December that Liverpool are the one team I wanted to avoid most. More because of the history between the two clubs. Pretty certain that whenever the two have met in knockout play Liverpool have always advanced.... 1976, 2001, 2007, maybe others. Some clubs have bogey teams and, for me, Liverpool are Barca's bogey team. Liverpool and (would you believe) Dundee United (!) Of course, must first get past United which should not be taken lightly..
From the ManU game thread on bigsoccer (which has 11 posts to our 3, 4 now, posts -- both really small numbers: Traveling squad for Barcelona: Manchester United squad travelling to Barcelona: David De Gea, Sergio Romero, Lee Grant, Diogo Dalot, Matteo Darmian, AY [Ashley Young] Phil Jones, Victor Lindelof, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling, Luke Shaw, Fred, Nemanja Matic, Scott McTominay, AP [Andreas Pereira], Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford No youngsters on this squad, with both Matic and Sanchez returning. Shaw has traveled but I do not believe he's eligible for tomorrow's game. The Boss is going to Barcelona as well - Alex Ferguson photo. and a different poster's lineup prediction: De Gea Dalot Smalling Lindelof Darmian Fred McTominary Pogba Rashford Lukaku Martial We haven't released our own squad list yet, but the usual questions abound when it comes to who will start. But I'll start with the givens: MAtS XXX-Pique-Lenglet-Alba Rakitic-Busquets-YYY Messi-Suarez-ZZZ XXX---really want to see Semedo and his speed there, Roberto the other option, Semedo is carrying 2 yellows so that is a risk. If he can make it through the match without a yellow, his slate is wiped clean, but a 3rd yellow would see him miss the next match (at least if we advance, not sure if it would carryover to next season if we did not advance). I predict (and want) EV to pick Semedo. YYY---Arthur seems like the most likely choice, Vidal or Roberto or Alena are others, if Coutinho plays mid it will be as a 4th mid (and even then Coutinho not the obvious choice), not one of 3 mids as not enough defense. I predict Arthur is selected. ZZZ---Is EV ready to release Dembele as a starter after he's been cleared for a week and played against Huesca to get some match fitness? Or start with Coutinho? Or even Malcom? Predict Dembele is chosen (and I want to see that too). Or, wildcard, play some other formation, like a 4-4-2, so Rakitic can be a little closer to a double pivot to better support Busquets, from those moments of high pressure? It could be a 4-4-2 by virtue of starters (like picking both Arthur and Vidal to start), or it could be more of a situational adjustment, where someone like Dembele starts as a 3rd forward but plays more as a 4th mid when we are under high pressure.
Of course. Forget Liverpool. We gotta win tomorrow's match which won't be easy. For some reason, Sanchez being healthy makes me nervous. What are the chances he decides to go ham and has a monster performance...
The one player in ManU that makes me nervous is Smalling. If the head smash was warm-up, I wonder what kind of **** he plans this time. Us not being accustomed to their intensity and all, ******* muppet lol. Obviously no disrespect, they're a great club and all, but I'm confident. We got this.
18 Man squad list no surprises, no suspensions, injured are Rafinha and Vermaelen, sitting are the loanees Murillo and Prince, plus the other January signing, Todibo. ManU need to score. We both want to advance. Both teams have players at risk of suspension but more important to advance than protect a player only to not advance (see Sergi Ramos), so we need to play Busquets for sure, and hopefully Semedo too. Good summary, please start Dembele over Coutinho:
This pretty much sums up the first leg: Hoping for something more like this tomorrow (that's Messi, Suarez and Dembele coming at United):
I feel that we are going to see a very motivated and hungry team tomorrow after a week’s rest and recent failure in the CL. We must go for the kill from the first minute and just push ourselves for more even if we get a goal or 2. Psychological advantage is very important in football, so let’s try to put some fear in the Liverpool team instead of giving them more confidence. More runs behind ManUtd’s defense, more hard work and better control of the ball (less miss-passes) is a must tomorrow. I think we will see a great Barca performance tomorrow, can’t wait.
The good thing is, Man U will have to open up and come at us, they won't be able to sit back. I hope our boys have their finishing boots ready...
Again, they parked the bus against PSG when they entered the second-leg down 2-nil. Make no mistake: they are parking the double-decker bus in front of De Gea tomorrow! If its still 0-0 after 60 minutes, that's good for them/bad for Barca. So why they open up from the start?
They won’t open up after 60 mins as well. Judging by what Ole said in his presser, they will park the bus for 90 minutes if it is still 0-0.
they were very lucky against psg. their second goal from buffon mistake. they didnt create any dangerous chance during that game.
The first leg came down to finishing. Both sides created multiple chances, and a number of story lines could have been produced. As it is at 1-0, the tie is wide open going into this second leg. United know they can produce goal chances with the speed they have on the counter coupled with Lukaku's ability to hold the ball and knock on for Rashford or Martial. Also, they realized Barca made plenty of mistakes with the ball, so they will have chances to be opportunistic as well. If I were United, I would use a 4-2-3-1 at Camp Nou (especially if Barca plan on the 4-4-2). I would play McTominay on the left dual pivot and have him deal with Messi central moves as he did at Old Trafford, and then let Matic sit in as a more statically positioned controller and set piece threat. I would have Martial-Lukaku-Rashford left to right up top with Pogba in a free role behind them. For teams that have successfully countered at the Camp Nou, a line breaking player for the second ball out is a must. Pogba fits that bill better than perhaps any other player of the world when deployed correctly. For Barcelona, it will be interesting to see what Valverde does with the midfield. Does he opt for 4 with Messi-Suarez top? The risk here is leaving too much space between the lines. The plus is that it makes Barca better able to match-up physically. Dembele will be a, and perhaps THE, key piece for Barca in this match in my opinion. Coutinho was a bother for Untied in leg 1, but couldn't help but think Dembele would have scored at least 1 goal in the same positions. Barcelona need to plan on scoring at least 2 goals to feel secure, and obviously the first goal will be enormous. United has the talent to get a result in the Camp Nou, especially if Barcelona become generous with losing possession in key areas as they did in Leg 1. Security in build-up play will the biggest key for Barcelona tactically. Do not gift opportunities because United will not miss like they did last week.
Marca Predicts, with a headline Coutinho rewarded for first leg performance (?? I mean he wasn't bad in the first leg but not sure it was a performance to be rewarded??): https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2019/04/16/5cb5ff5522601ddb0d8b45bc.html Ernesto Valverde will introduce the same starting line-up he selected at Old Trafford, where the Blaugrana clinched a narrow 1-0 victory. Meanwhile, Nemanja Matic and Phil Jones are expected to replace Fred and Luke Shaw respectively for the Red Devils. Barcelona's probable line-up: Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Nelson Semedo, Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets, Arthur; Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho. Barcelona's bench options: Jasper Cillessen, Sergi Roberto, Samuel Umtiti, Arturo Vidal, Carles Alena, Malcom, Ousmane Dembele. Manchester United's probable line-up: David de Gea; Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Ashley Young; Nemanja Matic, Scott McTominay, Paul Pogba; Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford. Manchester United's bench options: Sergio Romero, Matteo Darmian, Marcos Rojo, Fred, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Anthony Martial, Alexis Sanchez.
Don't forget the first goal they scored PSG was a give-awsy as well, second an awful mistake and the 3rd a rathet debatable penalty. I want Messi to destroy Smalling.