Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted that side was very lucky to escape with a win at home versus West Ham United yesterday. Solskjaer also said that had his side been playing FC Barcelona on Saturday, they would not have been able to pull off a result.
That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about why United were so thoroughly out-played by the Irons at Old Trafford on the weekend- their collective heads were in the Barca tie. United will need another against all odds, no one saw this coming kind of performance, like they achieved at Paris Saint-Germain in the last round on Tuesday night.
If not, their European campaign ends in Catalonia.
The Bank Manchester United Starting XI Prediction vs FC Barcelona UCL Quarterfinals (4-3-3)
Attack: Anthony Martial Romelu Lukaku Marcus Rashford
Midfielders: Paul Pogba Nemanja Matic Fred
Defenders: Diogo Dalot Chris Smalling Victor Lindelof Ashley Young
Goalkeeper: David de Gea
Manchester United vs FC Barcelona (1-0 aggregate) UEFA Champions League Quarter-final FYIs
Kickoff- Tuesday Apr 16 Camp Nou 8pm
Injury Report for both sides: go to this link
Starting XI Predictions- FC Barcelona Manchester United
Google Result Probability- FC Barcelona win 68%, Draw 20%, Manchester United win 12%
Referee- Felix Brych
Odds via BetFair- FC Barcelona 2/5, Draw 4/1, Manchester United win 15/2
Press conference video, quotes- coming Monday
Prediction- FC Barcelona 2, United 1
Having pretty much already locked up La Liga, Barca will be locked in on trying to win this competition, and that focus will be difficult for United to overcome.
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.