In what promises to be an epic encounter, Barcelona and Manchester United will face off for the first time in the Europa League playoffs, a historic moment for two European football giants. Although both teams have etched themselves into the Champions League folklore, they have never met in Europe’s secondary club competition, making this two-legged contest even more exciting.

Barcelona enters the Europa League knockout rounds for the second successive season, finishing third in their Champions League group behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. Despite thrashing Viktoria Plzen home and away, the Catalan giants only managed one point across four encounters against Bayern and Inter, which prevented them from securing a top-two spot.

Since their 3-0 defeat at home to Bayern in their penultimate group match on October 26, Barcelona has been in excellent form on the domestic front, putting together a 16-game unbeaten run across all competitions, including nine wins in their last 10 La Liga matches. This excellent form coincides with a dip in form from their rivals and reigning champions Real Madrid, putting Barcelona in an excellent position to lift their first La Liga title in four years.

While competing in Europe’s premier club competition is always preferred, the prospect of becoming Europa League champions for the first time is sure to motivate Xavi and his team, who have already won the Spanish Super Cup this year. The team has lost five of their last 11 European games at Camp Nou but heads into Thursday’s contest with four consecutive wins against Manchester United, including Champions League final triumphs in 2009 and 2011, followed by a 4-0 aggregate win in the quarter-finals of the same competition in 2019.

On the other hand, Manchester United has become familiar with Europa League football since their last Champions League triumph in 2007-08. In this season’s group stage, the team suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against Real Sociedad but went on to win their next five games. They finished second in Group E behind Sociedad on goal difference.

While still competing on all fronts this season, United will be eager to take an advantage into the second leg at Old Trafford in a week’s time. The team has lost just four of their 16 away matches in all tournaments this season and will be keen to improve their record against Spanish opposition, having won only three of their last 14 such knockout fixtures in European competition. United came up short against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League second round last season, with a 1-0 first-leg home defeat followed by a 1-1 away draw in the reverse fixture.

TEAM NEWS:

Both teams will be missing key players through injury, with Barcelona without Ousmane Dembele and Sergio Busquets for both legs of their Europa League playoff tie. In their absence, Xavi could play Gavi, Ferran Torres, or Ansu Fati on the left flank alongside top scorer Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha in the attack. Gavi is also in contention to replace the injured Busquets in midfield, but Franck Kessie may keep his starting spot alongside Frenkie de Jong and Pedri. Xavi is expected to stick with his solid defence that has kept more clean sheets than any other team across Europe’s top-five leagues this season, but he may choose to bring in experienced left-back Jordi Alba for Alejandro Balde.

Meanwhile, Manchester United will be without several key players through injury, including Donny van de Beek, Christian Eriksen, Anthony Martial, Scott McTominay, and Antony. Additionally, Lisandro Martinez and Marcel Sabitzer are suspended due to accumulative yellow cards in the group stages. However, Casemiro is back from suspension and set to partner Fred in midfield. The team’s attack could feature Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford and Wout Weghorst, with manager Ten Hag possibly recalling Raphael Varane in defence instead of Harry Maguire.

PREDICTED LINE-UPS:

FC Barcelona — Ter Stegen; Alba, Christensen, Araujo, Kounde; Pedri, De Jong, Kessie; Gavi, Lewandowski, Raphinha

Manchester United — De Gea; Malacia, Shaw, Varane, Wan-Bissaka; Fred, Casemiro; Rashford, Fernandes, Sancho; Weghorst