FC Barcelona centre back Gerard Pique is excited to be returning to Old Trafford, as he was once a Manchester United youth system player. His Blaugranes will take on United tomorrow in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal tie.
Pique knows that in order to advance his side cannot make the same mistake Paris Saint-Germain made. If they get the chance to finish United off early, in the road leg, they must take it. They cannot let any opportunities slip because United give Barcelona a lot to be concerned with.
When discussing what Red Devils attributes worry them the most, Pique and Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde listed a few, and agreed on two- the team’s size and counter-attacking prowess.
“I expect a game where we’ll have a lot of the ball and they will try and hit us on the counter attack with strong, fast players like Rashford and Lukaku,” Pique said.
“We have to be on our guard and look out for set pieces like corners, and crosses into the box. They are an English side, so they are strong, tall and will take advantage of opportunities. We have to try and avoid those situations and if we are on our game and we are focused, we can try to stop them.”
Most football experts and pundits believe that the Catalan club will win on the road Wednesday night, and eventually meet Liverpool in the semifinal round. Valverde is certainly not taking United lightly though, as he’s worried about the Red Devils ability to hurt them on set pieces.
“We know they are very strong in that aspect [set pieces] due to the size of their players. But we also have to be careful because of their speed on the counter attack and also with the impact that the fans can have,” the Barca manager said.
“They have been gaining strength in the Champions League and they go into this game with high morale, wanting to show what they can do and, of course, they want to go through.”
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%
Injury report for both sides: go to this link
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
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.
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