Champions League QF: Manchester United v Barcelona - Build Up Thread

passing-wind

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Just can't see this happening Barcelona could win playing in 2nd gear over two legs, I feel like we will have to play two worldies to go through.

I still think there's question over the teams mentality in big games and I don't mean domestically, we can point towards Juventus and PSG results but we had a fortune of luck in both games. We got played off the park vs PSG at home it was embarrassing. I've yet to see one our main players grab the opportunity to shine on big stages, Rashford, Martial and even Pogba have been subdued (Pogba with exception of his hatrick at City). Surprisingly Lingard to me seems to be the only player who can put in a good 7/10 in crucial fixtures, he's not as talented as our other forwards but he has a very good temperament never seems overshadowed by the gravity of an occasion.

This type of game is a season or two early for us, its not the strongest Barcelona side in recent history but they have a philosophy and a very composed team with quality and experience. Like any opinion I could be completely wrong, on paper we have a chance but the players application is what's important
 
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11101

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It will be a bloody tough game and i dont expect us to win, but happy to be part of a proper CL tie with two of the giants of football. Its what it's all about.
 

BlackBen

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I don’t know how we will do it but I’m confident we will win this tie.

As good as Barcelona are, their defence is weak and our attack should do them some damage.
 

breakout67

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Yeah, scored from a counter attack and a set piece to win an otherwise close game and we rewrote history to make it sound like they absolutely killed us.
Don't forget we had 2 injuries in quick succession and their first goal scorer had done enough to get sent off twice before he scored. We exposed PSG once again as the bottlers they are. You can buy Neymar but you can't buy pride and playing for the badge. You need these mental aspects in these big games.
 

VeevaVee

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Don't think we have a mentally strong enough team to do it, but who knows? Maybe we can see one out and Barca will have an off day on the other.
 

The Firestarter

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Magic of the CL lads, it's us playing the European giants :drool:. Not some no mark English sides.
 

Patrick08

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Worst possible draw in terms of chances going through.
Great draw in terms of big european nights.

They’ll beat us comfortably.
With our players fit we have a chance. David moyes mentality should not linger on amongst us.
 

Eric7C

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Against PSG I was confident that you would get a good result. My prediction was for the first leg where I presumed that the players would show that they are capable of competing, as a way of proving themselves after Mourinho.
It did not result in Manchester but it did look in Paris.
Barcelona have several players in a very good form, Suárez, Rakitic, Dembelé, Piqué and above all, they are a very difficult team to break.
They control the game very well and end up breaking you.
A game with a lot of intensity,pressing, on the edge of the yellow card (Roma last year) trying to trouble the play and without getting relaxed defensively thinking that they will surrender after ten minutes of siege.
The problem,the plan is better if the second leg is at home and Valverde Will be very cautious after the accident at Roma last year.
This is key. I think Ole would have learned from the PSG experience and seen that it is better to let these teams have the ball up until the final third of your own end, and to then make fast transitions into counter-attacks. Against PSG at OT, the approach was different and confused. But against Barca in both legs, I think it will be clear - over both legs we will let them have the ball, play fast counters, and rely on Pogba landing some magic passes onto the path of pacy forwards.

Of course having a plan and then executing it against players who have superb close-control and movement (and proclivity to dive) is a different matter.

Still, bring it on!
 

simon2727

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You guys think Barcelona will be happy to get us? Do you think Messi will look at the draw and say oh Manchester united, Barca will be in the semis.... this is a big game, if not the biggest in the quarters and anything magical can happens.
 
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redpatron

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Playing the second leg away is a huge disadvantage especially against Barca. Anyway, let's give it a go and hopefully we won't be embarrassed.
100%. uefalona refs going to be out in full force handling out yellow cards, bias whistles, and am ignoring the existence of VAR. I see Lukaku channelling Drogba at Camp Nou after leg 2.
 

Sarni

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Don't forget we had 2 injuries in quick succession and their first goal scorer had done enough to get sent off twice before he scored. We exposed PSG once again as the bottlers they are. You can buy Neymar but you can't buy pride and playing for the badge. You need these mental aspects in these big games.
Yeah. I don’t really buy all the people saying they outclassed us in that first leg. There was nothing in that game until half time and we struggled due to injuries in the second, understandably.
 

Sarni

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Roma knocked them out last year and Lyon were very much in it this year. It’s possible to beat them, hard but possible.
 

Captainkit

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I don't think Barcelona has ever beaten us in a two legged tie. Both in 1999 and 2009. The only won against us in a one legged final. And also we beat them every 10 years. So this might be another!! BELIEVE
 

TMDaines

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FiveThirtyEight have Barca progressing 78% of the time and United 22% of the time. A good performance at Old Trafford can soon push that in our favour and PSG showed that even a bad one won't make things insurmountable.
 

siw2007

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Was the draw I wanted. I’ve seen us play Real, Bayern, Juve and PSG but not Barca so am looking forward to it.

When it comes to our chances, probably quite slim but you never know.
 

RepardReece

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Key to beating Barcelona will be the 1st leg at Old Trafford. A good result is a must otherwise it's already over. Camp Nou is a fortress and we'll need something special to win there.
 

Hoboman

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Of course but have a bit more faith. Barca aren't Barca of 09-11.
And we are definately not United of 07-11. We have to be very organized and incredibly lucky. But with healthy Herrera, Martial and Lingard we have chance to go through.
 
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Of course we get Barca, of fecking course..
If they don't want us in this competition they should just tell us :lol:
 

Inigo Montoya

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Roma knocked them out last year and Lyon were very much in it this year. It’s possible to beat them, hard but possible.
Yeah, nothing to lose here and everyone expects us to go out.

Thing is, they won't be exactly rubbing their hands in glee either. We've only played them in finals the last couple of times,and the occasion before that we played them in a semi and won. It's going to be tough but they're hardly unbeatable
 

Judas

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I'm gutted by the draw, it's exciting to be playing a massive team again, but I don't think we've got the team to get the job done sadly. We'll need luck and a tactical masterclass.

We'll put up a good fight though.
 

IRELANDUNITED

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Stop Messi and you stop Barca, i know stopping Messi is about as easy as stopping the wind blowing but hey we have to try.
 

Reddy Rederson

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What the point of being in it if we don't bloody the noses of the big boys along the way. feck Messi, feck suarez, and feck barca. They are going down :D.
 

breakout67

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Yeah. I don’t really buy all the people saying they outclassed us in that first leg. There was nothing in that game until half time and we struggled due to injuries in the second, understandably.
I agree, but some were ready to throw away the whole team after that game. Typical reactionary stuff. We've lost twice under Ole and both were mitigated in some way. We knocked out PSG over two legs and we missed sitter after sitter against Arsenal (not to mention they got a fraudulent penalty).

I can be confident that we will always try our best to play under this new leadership. None of this sit back the whole game and try to win from a long ball or set piece. We will create chances against Barca, and we have to hope that our forwards are on it.

Hopefully Lukaku's foot injury is not serious, and Martial is firing. Those two have the habit of scoring in waves and we need them to hit that wave during those games.
 

cyberman

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Yeah, nothing to lose here and everyone expects us to go out.

Thing is, they won't be exactly rubbing their hands in glee either. We've only played them in finals the last couple of times,and the occasion before that we played them in a semi and won. It's going to be tough but they're hardly unbeatable
Pogba playing through balls to our front three should really scare them, people are talking as if we don't have massive problems for them to solve as well.
I think we could get them with our width. Crowd the middle and shorten Messis area to play with and get behind Alba / push him back.
 

IRELANDUNITED

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We're 11/5 to qualify, Barcelona 3/10. Interestinly this is the exact sames odds as the PSG tie when that draw was made, we did shorten in price before the first leg of that tie however.
 

Eleven-Eighteen

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We'll get a sum total of 3 full chances and 5 half chances across the two legs. If we don't find a way to convert at least 2 of these 8, we don't stand a chance
 

DaGOAT

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Not the Barcelona they once were, very beatable as long as Messi is not provoked. We can win this!
Barca have been on fire this season and Messi is in top form with 36 goals in 36 matches (8 goals in the Champions League, which is top of the scoring chart) and 18 assists.

Messi also is historically great against English teams with 22 goals against top 6 English sides.

Most goals vs Top 6 teams in England.

Rooney - 54 (141)

Aguero - 43 (71)

Vardy - 32 (54)

Van Persie - 31 (70)

Ronaldo - 28 (70)

Kane - 24 (47)

Messi - 22 (30)

Every team is beatable but Barcelona with Messi less so.
 
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TheRedDevil'sAdvocate

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We're not a match for them, yet. Give us a year (and a transfer window), now that we seem to be heading towards a new direction tactically, and it'll be a whole different deal against any top European rival.

Anything can happen in football but i think we've already had our fair share of luck against PSG. Plus, they have Messi. Just like Juventus had Ronnie the other night. For all Allegri's tactical acumen and the effort put in by the rest of the team, it was Ronnie's two incredible headers that turned the tie around. Same with Barca... They don't look as dominant or as capable of suffocating any opponent with their possession game as in the Pep days but when that little fecker is on his day... there are very few who can stand in their way.

Let's just hope that Ole will have an ace up his sleeve once more and that the gods of football will smile again for us on the pitch because, sure as hell, they don't do us any favours in draws.