Two of the biggest clubs in the world go head-to-head in the Europa League on Thursday night. However, it’s two clubs on the rise in their respective domestic leagues.
Off the back of several harsh years, the board have finally got it right with the managers and both had a good summer window, which has meant FC Barcelona lead La Liga and Manchester United have made their way up the Premier League and have turned into possible title contenders. This also means the winner of this tie will be favourites to win the Europa League and is one of the most exciting ties in Europe this week.
This promises to be a thriller and will be a close encounter between two outstanding teams. Barcelona will most likely have 55-60% possession and rely on the technical ability and vision of Gavi, Pedri and Frenkie de Jong to create chances for the ruthless Robert Lewandowski up front.
Manchester United will look to defend resolutely and use the passing range of Casemiro to instigate attacks and get the ball into their dangerous front four as quickly as possible; in particular to the in-form Marcus Rashford. His finishing and pace have caused problems for the majority of Premier League teams.
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Rampaging Rashford
Erik ten Hag will be looking to use Marcus Rashford against Jules Kounde. Both have had exceptional seasons at club level as well as impressing at the World Cup and this could be a battle for the ages. Kounde has won 67% of his tackles this season, however, he has only made 10 tackles and 10 interceptions in 13 starts.
Most of the play is in front of him and La Liga wingers tend to drop into midfield to get the ball and Kounde then follows them without really engaging. Rashford will pose a very different challenge to this and will be looking to get wide and run in behind or try and ghost into the back post for a tap-in.
He will likely play very high up on Thursday just as he did against Arsenal, this will maximise the effects of his touches and increase his chances of impacting the game. Whilst playing so high up means he won’t get the ball as often, it does mean every time he does get it, Kounde will have a big task on his hands to stop Rashford from going for goal and bringing others into the game.
Another thing which will make Rashford’s task harder is that Xavi has confirmed Ronald Araujo will be given the task of man-marking Rashford thus meaning Kounde will most likely be expected to cover for Araujo if Rashford ever beats him.
This will force Rashford to play away from his strengths as he won’t be able to play as high as if he’s going to be man-marked it just makes things a lot easier for Araujo, especially if Barcelona as expected will dominate possession.
This will mean that Rashford won’t be able to get as high or as wide as he would like to whilst going one-on-one against a full back and receiving support from behind. However, if he’s man-marked this will have two ramifications, he won’t be able to receive the ball on the half turn and drive forwards which will force him to pass back and chase balls that get played over the top.
Due to the speed of Kounde and Araujo in defence, these will most likely be unsuccessful and force Rashford to change the way he plays.
Therefore, in order to counteract this man-marking tactic, Rashford could change the way he plays and in doing so force Araujo’s game to change.
He will probably come in field towards the middle of the pitch to allow him to get on the ball and affect the game. This then gives Araujo a decision to make, does he come inside to follow Rashford and leave the right back position open to allow Fred and Luke Shaw to create an overload out wide or does he allow Rashford to roam freely and come inside.
Doing this will force Rashford to play away from his strengths as there won’t be many opportunities to isolate a defender and go one-on-one, as well as causing him to play deeper to get on the ball if he wants to progress the ball up the pitch meaning he can’t run in behind.
By doing this the right winger (Alejandro Garnacho or Jadon Sancho) will then be expected to be the outlet and will play very high and wide trying to stretch the defence and allow Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Wout Weghorst to play higher up.
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Is Fred the Key to Stopping the Barcelona Midefield?
Another key battle will be in the midfield as United will be without the injured Christian Eriksen and deadline day signing Marcel Sabitzer is suspended. Therefore, Casemiro will most likely be partnered with fellow Brazilian Fred in the centre of midfield.
Whilst Fred is by no means a bad footballer playing him in midfield will really disrupt ten Hag’s system as he prefers players in that role to have a high level of technical ability, who can play that long diagonal ball to Rashford and set up attacks.
This will cause a huge difference in United's playing style as Fred averages just 0.9 key passes per game as well as only making 1.2 long balls per game. In comparison, Eriksen is on 1.3 key passes per game and completes 2.4 long passes per 90.
As well as this, Fred has no Premier League assists to his name this season and in comparison, Eriksen has seven. Therefore, playing Fred will greatly affect United’s system and force Bruno Fernandes and Rashford deeper as they won’t receive some of the progressive passes that Eriksen makes. Therefore, they will have to play lots of long balls up to Wout Weghorst in order to start attacks and in doing so will bypass Fred.
However, Fred's playing will benefit United in some ways, Anthony will miss out so it will be either Jadon Sancho or Alejandro Garnacho on the right and this means that whichever of these two play will be able to play to their strengths a bit more as they can drop deep and get the ball to feet and then go one on one with Jordi Alba. This is something both players excel at and it can allow them to put crosses in for Weghorst and Rashford and create chances that way instead.
Barcelona’s tradition of having excellent technical midfielders has continued into their current crop of players, Pedri, De Jong and Gavi fit the Barcelona mould perfectly and Fred could help support United’s defence in stopping the Barcelona trio from playing free-flowing football Barcelona want to and the defence will be particularly vulnerable without Lisandro Martinez.
As previously mentioned, Fred's playing will cause Bruno Fernandes to drop deeper which will mean they can go man-to-man against Barcelona’s midfield trio and press them forcing them back and reducing the chances created, ultimately disrupting the way they play.
If United can press well enough to cause this it would play into United’s hands as apart from Frank Kessie Barcelona’s side seriously lacks height and any physical strength and by forcing Barcelona back they could be forced into lots of long high balls. United have Raphael Varane, Casemiro and Wout Weghorst which means that a lot of aerial balls will be won by a United player.
As well as this Fred is better defensively than Eriksen and could be very key for United over both legs.
Fred does defend well individually as well as causing Bruno Fernandes to drop deeper which could go a long way in stopping Barcelona’s attacks. This season in the Premier League Fred makes over two tackles per 90 and 1.28 interceptions per 90 which shows how accomplished he is defensively and shows how crucial he could be in supporting this backline, for reference Casemiro makes fewer tackles and only makes 0.33 interceptions per game.
These defensive capabilities will provide more steel in midfield and stop a lot of supply to the very dangerous Robert Lewandowski.