THE competition may be different, the walk out theme may be less enthralling, and the game may be taking place on a far from ideal day.However, Barcelona’s visit to Old Trafford under the lights this Thursday has all the feeling of a colossal European affair.
Erik ten Hag goes head-to-head with Xavi at Old Trafford
There is no room for error in this one.
After a mouth-watering and rather chaotic 2-2 draw in Catalonia just under a week ago, it will be a winner takes all at the Theatre of Dreams.
At least one of the favourites to win the Europa League will bow out with their heads held high, knowing that they fell to a worthy adversary.
Following a nervy first half at the Camp Nou in which Manchester United had the better chances but Barcelona dominated the play, the second half had viewers on the edges of their seats.
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But it’s still all to play for and both managers will have learned quite a lot about their opponents as well as their own teams.
While the second leg may or may not live up to the absorbing nature of the first, Thursday night’s fixture will certainly be an incredibly tactical affair.
Here are three key areas where this European clash of the titans can be won and lost.
Weghorst’s new clothes
There is no shame in admitting some scepticism towards Erik ten Hag after Brentford ran riot in London against the Red Devils back in August in a humiliating 4-0 defeat.
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Having come from the Eredivisie in the summer, Ten Hag was keen to quickly impose his principles on the side with little room for flexibility.
United were playing out from the back at every opportunity, looking to build through the thirds of the pitch on the deck. But this led to serious problems early doors.
Both Brighton and Brentford pressed United high, and Ten Hag’s side looked more uncomfortable than Roy Keane giving praise.
Instead of living and dying by the sword, the Dutchman tweaked his approach and Man United began playing more direct, going long from David de Gea.
Even in bigger games against stronger opponents, United started to adopt a slightly more conservative approach, preferring to soak up pressure and hitting teams on the break.
This was the gameplan adopted by Ten Hag last Thursday versus La Blaugrana.
United were happy to concede 57 per cent of the ball to Barcelona while looking dangerous in transition.
Then, merely three days later against Leicester, the Reds boasted 57 percent of the ball themselves in a superb 3-0 home win.
It is likely that the English giants will switch up their approach once again by allowing Barcelona to dominate possession despite being the hosts.
When defending as a unit last Thursday, United didn’t defend deeper down the pitch, instead preferring to sit in a 4-2-3-1 block in the Barca half, going man-for-man in midfield.
Wout Weghorst would mark Barcelona’s deepest midfielder while Fred and Casemiro would take the remaining two central midfielders.
One of the most surprising, yet intriguing tactical decisions from Ten Hag was to play Weghorst in a midfield role, giving him for more defensive responsibilities than offensive.
Against Leeds United at Elland Road a few days prior, the manager trialled this for the first time with great success as the Burnley loanee bagged an assist for Alejandro Garnacho’s goal to make it 2-0.
In the Nou Camp, Weghorst gave a great account of himself once more, carrying out the instructions from his coach very efficiently.
Where many believed that Bruno Fernandes would be the man deployed in the No10 slot with Jadon Sancho on the right and Marcus Rashford over on the left, it was Weghorst who aided Fred and Casemiro in the middle of the park.
Where he may fall behind in goal contributions, Weghorst’s impeccable work rate makes up for this.
Even when United were defending low down the pitch, the 6ft 6in centre-forward-come-playmaker was tracking back to help plug holes in his team’s defensive shape.
Weghorst dropped deep against Barcelona
Casemiro was dragged out wide to deal with the danger as Tyrell Malacia was caught out of position. Noticing the impending threat, Weghorst dropped into his own penalty area alongside Fred to defend a cross into the box.
It will be interesting to see whether Ten Hag sticks with Weghorst behind Rashford or whether he switches up his tactics to place Fernandes back into his favourite role as the apex of the midfield.
Stopping Marcus Rashford
It should be no surprise that Marcus Rashford will likely be the decider of this tie.
Whether Manchester United progress to the next phase could all depend on how Barcelona deal with the threat of the in-form attacker.
Michael Owen once infamously stated that “Rashford isn’t going to be scoring 30 goals a season.”
The former Ballon d’Or winner may be about to eat his words as the 25-year-old’s tally currently sits at 24 in all competitions for the 2017 Europa League champions.
23 of these strikes were non-penalty goals. However, what’s more impressive is that Rashford’s total non-penalty xG is 12.9 right now, proving that the England international is one of the most clinical finishers in Europe.
At the Nou Camp, this star quality shone through, especially in the second half.
Barcelona had the lion’s share of possession which meant that United were happy to sit back and counterattack which worked wonderfully.
Rashford’s pace behind the Catalan defence was a weapon that Barcelona simply could not defuse.
Having regained possession high up the pitch, Fred found Rashford in behind who made a run between Marcos Alonso and Jordi Alba. The finish past Marc-André ter Stegen capped off a flawless United transition.
Just a few days later, Leicester were the guests on the Rashford show as the Three Lions star was hungrier than ever, scoring two very similar goals in both halves.
His movement, power, pace and much-improved potency have been too much for even the best defences to handle.
Heading into the first leg, Barcelona had only conceded seven goals in LaLiga, but the defence was made to look average on the night by one of the most dangerous predators in world football.
So how can Xavi set up his side to deal with the Man United man’s prowess?
The answer is easier said than done of course, but there are two ways Barcelona can maintain Rashford.
Firstly, La Blaugrana could look to defend deeper on the pitch, limiting the space between the goalkeeper and the backline that Rashford has to run into.
Unfortunately, this approach is unlikely given the nature of how high Xavi wants his men to press up the pitch.
The second method is more logical for Barcelona. The centre-backs must be able to cope with Rashford’s pace on the break.
Ronald Araujo is rapid and is undoubtedly one of the quickest defenders around.
However, Marcos Alonso simply couldn’t cope on the night which is why Rashford targeted the former Chelsea man.
Moving Jules Kounde into the middle could be a great option for the visitors.
Despite being a right-back in this game against Real Betis, Kounde came right across to cover for his central defenders and kept up with Sergi Canales who was making a diagonal run in behind, averting the danger at hand.
How Barcelona lined up in the Nou Camp
Xavi does prefer to use Kounde as a fullback but may be forced to switch up the Frenchman’s positioning in order to help Araujo deal with Rashford’s speed in behind.
This will allow Barcelona to keep their higher defensive stance while still having enough pace to keep up with Manchester United’s danger man when bearing down on goal.
The midfield battle
While many were starstruck in awe of a certain little Argentine during the 2011 Champions League final, it was the midfield battle where the game was won and lost.
Man United’s department was fully of quality and cohesiveness but La Blaugrana’s trio of Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Xavi were on a different level.
For quite a lot of that game in Wembley, United’s midfield were busy taking turns trying to mark Lionel Messi who constantly dropped deep to find little pockets of space to receive.
Unfortunately, this meant that Barcelona almost always had a free man and found it incredibly easy to progress past United’s second line.
Erik ten Hag picked this side for the away leg last week
Sir Alex Ferguson previously alluded to an error in judgement that he made by not starting Park Ji-Sung to man-mark the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner.
This would have given license to the rest of United’s midfield to deal with their opposite numbers.
Fast forward nearly twelve years later and it was Barca who were struggling in the middle of the park.
Xavi picked a slightly unconventional midfield three of Frenkie de Jong, Franck Kessié and Pedri but this caused a lot of problems against United’s aggressive ball-winners, particularly Fred and Casemiro.
Barcelona were struggling to play out from the back. The midfielders lacked chemistry and were really sloppy in possession against United’s man-marking approach.
Under pressure from Fred, de Jong sloppily gave the ball away which allowed United to break forward. The chance led to a corner which the visitors scored their second from to take the lead.
Against this type of approach, ball-resistant midfielders are needed.
While De Jong could be filed under this category, the same can’t be said for Kessié.
When facing his own goal, under pressure from behind, the Ivorian struggles and is prone to making erroneous passes which are highly dangerous against a team like the Red Devils.
One way Xavi could look to tweak things in the second leg is by calling on a former partner of his, a player who ran the show as a young man in the 2011 final alongside the current boss – Busquets.
While he may have lost a yard of pace, being on the wrong side of 30, Busquets is still exceptionally-gifted under pressure, never flailing and always keeping a cool head.
Under immense pressure from the Girona player inside his own penalty area, Busquets ever calmly slides to ball to the left centre-back to escape the high press
His calmness in the midfield was missed last Thursday in the great Catalan Colosseum and so it wouldn’t be a shock to see the veteran back in the team in midweek having now returned to the squad from injury.
Having both De Jong and Busquets as the team’s fulcrum could be exactly what Barcelona need to deal with the intense pressure that will be placed on them by their opposite numbers.
So what does this all mean?
Manchester United are flying high right now, finding themselves flirting with a Premier League title race and could lift their first trophy in nearly six years in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are sitting pretty on top of LaLiga with the best defensive record in Europe.
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Both teams know that a defeat won’t be the end of the world but will also have a feeling that victory and progression to the Last 16 could put them comfortably in pole position as the favourites to win the competition outright.
With two of the best coaches in Europe and two world class sets of players going toe-to-toe in one of the finest theatres in the world, this game has the potential to be one of the best of the season. More
