For the second consecutive year, Barcelona will play the Europa League. And his first rival will be a team with a lot of pedigree. One of the two champions of the European Cup that could touch him. Barça will meet again with Manchester United, who will have the second leg at Old Trafford's Theater of Dreams. The matches of the tie as attractive as it is close will be played on February 16 and 23.
The English team is fifth in the Premier, 11 points off the lead. The Red Devils are old acquaintances of Barça, although the last ten times they have faced each other they have done so in the top continental competition. For Barcelona, United is a team with good memories since they defeated them in the finals in Rome in 2009 and Wembley in 2011, with Xavi on the pitch. He is now the coach.
For its part, Sevilla will face PSV Eindhoven, current leader of the Eredivisie, in this round, with Van Nistelrooy on the bench and Luuk de Jong, who played for Pizjuán, as a reference in attack.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who will be 38 years old and not going through his best moment, threatens Barcelona again. The Portuguese has scored up to 20 goals against Barcelona. The last ones, in 2020 when he played for Juventus. He is not the only ex-Madridista who plays for United as Brazilian Casemiro and central defender Varane also play. The duel also involves Frenkie de Jong's head-to-head against Ten Hag, his mentor at Ajax. Instead, Lewandowski has never faced United. For the Pole it will be an unprecedented clash.
Last year, the competition took the Blaugrana to Naples, Istanbul and Frankfurt but the tour ended abruptly. This time the road to the final in Budapest on May 31 starts at Old Trafford. Manchester United have more experience in the Europa League than Barça, as the English lifted the title in 2017 and reached the final in 2021.
"For the neutral fan, it's a spectacular tie", condensed Jordi Cruyff, Barça's sports director, who played for both teams. "Surely we wanted softer rivals. We'll both think the same thing and I'm sure we'll both go to the top. That's the beauty of it. It came like that", he analyzed.
Cruyff warned that there are no favourites. “They are two great clubs with the potential to win any title. United is a team with a lot of history. In recent years he has taken new paths with a new coach. The stadium makes a lot of noise. It is not a team with which you can loosen up for a moment.
The first leg, at the Camp Nou, will be held between the trip to Vila-real and the visit to Cádiz. Instead, after traveling to Manchester, Barça will have to fly to Almería.
If Xavi's team manages to advance to the round of 16, Arsenal, Fenerbahçe, Feyenoord, Freiburg, Ferencváros and Belgian Union St. Gilloise await them.
