The UEFA Champions League resumed yesterday night with the first set of quarter final matches played across Europe. The exciting game produced some interesting results last night with Tottenham and Liverpool claiming important first leg victories over Manchester City and FC Porto respectively. The competition will continue tonight with Spanish giants, Barcelona taking on a rejuvenated Manchester United side. Although a lot of pundits have written off United’s chances following their inconsistent results, there are a few things that could swing the tie in Manchester United’s favor. Here are 5 reasons why United may defeat Barcelona tonight.
- Barca’s Quarter Final Struggles
The last few years have proved quite troublesome for the Spanish Champions at this stage of the competition. Since 2015, Barca have not managed to get past the quarter finals off the UCL. They were knocked out by Atletico Madrid in 2016, Juventus in 2017 and Roma did the honors last year. United can find hope in the fact that Barca have somehow been struggling to reach the semi finals of the UCL in the last 4 years.
- United’s Self Belief
Regardless of their unfavorable last match, you can’t deny that this Manchester United team has found their confidence under their new coach. The players seem to be enjoying their football now and are playing with more self-belief. And judging by their last performance in this competition when they incredibly knocked out French Champions, PSG, they should be on fire for tonight’s match.
READ ALSO: 3 Lessons Learned From The UCL First Knockout Stage
- This UCL is Unpredictable
This year’s edition of the UCL has already given us some surprising results. The reigning champions were knocked out in a stunning fashion, same as PSG and Dortmund. Most of the expected results have not turned out so. Therefore, Man United fans can look forward to this game. Because this UCL’s slogan should be “Expect the unexpected”.
- This Is United’s Only Chance to win a trophy
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would love to end the season by winning a trophy and the UCL is the only one within reach. Winning the competition may also be United’s sure ticket to next season’s UCL, so they’d strive to give it their all.
- Messi’s Poor Quarter final Numbers
Recently, we have seen Barca’s dependency on their talisman, Lionel Messi, greatly increase. The Argentine play maker has produced some stunning performances to save Barcelona this season. However, he may not be able to replicate that brilliance tonight, judging by history. Messi has not scored in this stage of the competition since 2013 and has struggled to make valuable impact too. If his UCL quarter final form doesn’t pick up tonight, then United may very well be capable of upsetting the Spanish champions.
DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE WITH YOUR EMAIL BELOW AND GET MORE OF THIS EVERYDAY
Comments