Manchester United v Barcelona: Champions League, quarter-final, first leg – live! | Soccer

"Coutinho is probably in the starting lineup in the hope that someone in the UK will appreciate what he sees?" Says Charles Antaki. "Some will surely have pity on him and free him from his Hell of Barcelona?" Indeed. Pray for Coutinho.

Ander Herrera is not available to United today and this is something they will have to get used to, as he is about to agree on a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Let Jamie Jackson tell you more:

Are you United playing a back three? Or is it a four back with Dalot deployed as a protective middle midfielder, probably to the left of United, where Messi will seek to rejoice.

United: De Gea; Young, Smalling, Lindelof, Shaw; Fred McTominay, Pogba, Dalot; Lukaku, Rashford

Subs: Romero, Jones, Mata, Martial, Lingard, Pereira, Rojo

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Suarez, Coutinho

Subs: Cillessen, Dembele, Malcom, Roberto, Vidal, Umtiti, Alena

Arbitrator: Gianluca Rocchi (Ita)

Hello. How do you follow a miracle? Perhaps beating the team powered by Lionel Messi. Manchester United can still remember pbadionately a thrilling night in Paris in the last round, but they have lost three of their four matches since then and are likely to make a sensational comeback against Paris Saint-Germain. to an epic humiliation on the part of Barcelona. Unless, of course, United has really defeated Old Trafford visitors today, that would be to surpbad all that they have done so far under Ole Gunnar Solskjær, or even with Jose Mourinho and Louis Van Gaal. United has not even been at this stage of the Champions League since the glorious days of David Moyes.

Today, United will have to find a risky balance.. They will want to have at least a small lead to take for Camp Nou and this will require scoring, which they have only managed once in four Champions League matches at Old Trafford this season. But they will not want to be too open, otherwise Barça could kill the match with a volley of goals on the outside. Solskjær must know, however, that no matter how he approaches the match, Barcelona is able to tear his defense. And Barcelona knows the importance of an away goal, as scoring one has led to its elimination at this stage of the competition in each of the last three years. This fact alone shows that Barça is not as powerful as before, but it is still really good. And they will always have Messi. And Luis Suarez who, we think, would take a lot of fun to score at Old Trafford. David De Gea will have to be in top form. Paul Pogba too. The eyes of the world, including Real Madrid, are on him. So, to quote Chris Smalling, bring him.

Start: 20h local time