Barcelona will resume their hostilities with Manchester United as they travel to Old Trafford on Thursday night for the return leg of the Europa League contest. The first-leg encounter resulted in a stalemate last week as they drew 2-2 at Camp Nou, so the Catalan giants will be looking to produce a better result this time around.
Xavi will probably opt for a 4-2-3-1 formation that he used in the previous encounter and is expected to make a host of changes to the starting XI from the last time out. Sergi Roberto and Ferran Torres will drop to the bench as Sergio Busquets and Raphinha play from the start.
4-2-3-1 Barcelona Predicted XI Vs Manchester United
Defence
Marc-André ter Stegen will continue to feature in goal for the Catalan club after securing a clean sheet in his last outing against Cadiz. Ronald Araujo will form a centre-half partnership with Andreas Christensen at the heart of Barca’s backline as they look to keep things tidy at the back during the game.
Jules Kounde will operate as the right-back while Jordi Alba hopes to put in a good display on the other flank as the left-back. Both of them will get the freedom to get forward and cause a few problems for the opposition full-backs.
Alejandro Balde and Marcos Alonso will have to settle for a place on the bench as they provide cover for the defensive positions.
Midfield
Sergio Busquets and Franck Kessie will operate in the holding midfield positions as they look to dominate the game at the centre of the park and engineer enough chances for the Catalan club to win this contest.
Ansu Fati, Frenkie De Jong and Raphinha will function just ahead of them as part of Xavi’s attack. They will be tasked with creating opportunities in front of the goal and providing support down the middle.
Attack
Robert Lewandowski will once again spearhead Xavi’s attack up top. The Polish striker would be hungry to get his name on the scoresheet when he laces up to face off against the opposition defenders for this European contest.
Ferran Torres could be named on the bench and might come on in the latter stages of the contest if Barca are in a need of goal by then.
