Manchester United vs Barcelona

Manchester United’s pursuit of a first Europa League title since 2016/17 continues at Old Trafford to La Liga heavyweights Barcelona in the return leg of their evenly-poised knockout playoff tie.

A place in the Europa League last-16 is up for grabs following an enthralling 2-2 first-leg draw at Camp Nou, with Manchester United coming into proceedings on the back of a 3-0 home demolition of Leicester City in the Premier League. That result made it 15 wins from their last 17 home outings in all competitions (D2), highlighting United’s tag as pre-match favorites. Erik ten Hag’s men embarked on this incredible run following a 1-0 loss to Real Sociedad in their Europa League curtain-raiser, which was incidentally their second defeat across 11 home matches in Europe’s second-tier competition (W6, D3). But it’s worth noting that both those losses have come to Spanish clubs, seeing Man Utd go down by an identical 1-0 scoreline.

If that’s not enough to bolster Barcelona’s spirits, the Spaniards’ sublime 11-game H2H record against United in major European competitions should do the trick (W5, D5, L1). But despite winning four of their last five meetings with the ‘Red Devils’ (D1), the ‘Blaugrana’ have managed just one triumph on their five previous visits to Old Trafford (D2, L2). What’s more, Xavi Hernandez’s men have claimed only two wins across their last nine UEFA road trips (D2, L4), losing twice on their three continental travels this term ‘to nil’ (W1). However, Barcelona strolled to a 2-0 home win over La Liga strugglers Cadiz at the weekend to maintain an eight-point lead at the summit and extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 18 matches (W16, D2).