Now that Ole is at the wheel, let’s see if he can guide the ship towards silverware. The UEFA Champions League is the only one of the four competitions that Manchester United remain alive in contention for, but they have an extremely tough draw in FC Barcelona.
While Manchester City seem to be consensus favorites of the competition, Barcelona aren’t far behind. With Real Madrid out of the tournament, we’ll finally have a new champion again, and many are banking on that being Los Blancos’ El Classico rivals. Let’s take a look at the injury and fitness report for both sides in this one.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will be missing four players for certain- defenders Matteo Darmian, Eric Bailly and Antonio Valencia, as well as forward/winger Alexis Sanchez.
Paul Pogba returns from suspension in Euro competitions so that provides a boost, but the Red Devils also have two key players who are doubtful for this one- out of contract at the end of the year midfielder Ander Herrera (just a knock) and stellar young Mancunian forward Marcus Rashford (ankle issue).
Both face a late fitness test for this one. Switching over to the visitors, Rafinha is out for the season while scoring sensation Luis Suarez is a major doubt with an ankle problem.
This match could come too early for him to return while the big money Ousmane Dembele could feature, or he could sit and further recover from his hamstring problem.
Manchester United vs FC Barcelona UEFA Champions League Quarter-final FYIs
Kickoff- Wednesday Apr 10, Old Trafford 8pm
Google Result Probability- Manchester United win 26% Draw 27% FC Barcelona win 47%
Starting XI Predictions- FC Barcelona Manchester United
Recent form- Manchester United: WLLWL FC Barcelona: WWWDW
Odds- Manchester United win 11/4, Draw 27/10, FC Barcelona 21/20
Press conference video, quotes- coming Tuesday
Prediction- Barcelona 2, United 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.
