By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp
ANKARA (AA) - Manchester United will take on Barcelona in a UEFA Europa League knockout round playoff second leg clash at Old Trafford on Thursday.
The first leg between the English and Spanish sides ended in a 2-2 draw at Camp Nou last Thursday.
Both sides have seemed in good shape in their respective leagues lately, as Barca stands at the top of La Liga standings, after their 2-0 victory against Cadiz, while the Red Devils climbed to the number three spot in the Premier League after their 3-0 win over Leicester City.
"Yes, we should have won (the first leg) but we have steps to go," Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag said. "We have two good teams at the highest level; it was a really high performance level and I was really pleased with the performance from my team."
Former Barcelona legend Xavi, who is now the head coach of the Spanish side, praised the opposition's counterattacking play.
"They play marvelous counterattacking football, Rashford getting in behind, Bruno (Fernandes) finding long passes," Xavi said. "We wanted to mature the match (in the first leg), calm things down from the constant end to end, but United are very good at playing the way they want to."
Manchester side midfielders Christian Eriksen and Donny van de Beek will be unavailable in the upcoming Europa League game due to injuries. Brazilian winger Anthony and French attacker Anthony Martial’s inclusion in the Barcelona game squad is also doubtful.
Spanish Midfielder Pedri and French winger Ousmane Dembele will also be unavailable for the Barca game squad due to injuries.
- UEFA Europa League fixtures:
Nantes (France) - Juventus (Italy) (1-1)
Midtjylland (Denmark) - Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) (1-1)
Monaco (France) - Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) (3-2)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) - Sevilla (Spain) (0-3)
Manchester United (England) - Barcelona (Spain) (2-2)
Rennes (France) - Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) (1-2)
Union Berlin (Germany) - Ajax (Netherlands) (0-0)
Roma (Italy) - Salzburg (Austria) (0-1)