Quarterfinals Fan Preview: Manchester United

The minutes felt like hours as referee Damir Skomina consulted VAR on the sidelines of the Parc des Princes. Time seemed to suspend itself as nearly 50,000 fans fell silent in the stadium. Players stood powerless on the field, at the mercy of a group of consulting referees in the VAR box. As Skomina returned to the pitch, he whistled for a penalty. Marcus Rashford stepped up and converted, and the rest has already entered into United history.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Manchester United will face off against Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals. The first leg will be held at Old Trafford on April 10 and the second leg will take place at Camp Nou just 6 days after, on the 16th. History and Lionel Messi certainly aren’t on United’s side, but the Red Devils will look to put up a brave showing. The two sides last met in 2011, when Pep’s Barcelona emerged as 3-1 victors against Sir Alex Ferguson’s United at Wembley, crowning the Spanish side as Champions League winners.

United are coming off their miraculous Round of 16-comeback against PSG and will hope to continue their good fortune against the Spanish giants. Luckily for United, they will have their star man, Paul Pogba, back for both legs of the quarterfinals after his first-leg red card against Paris Saint Germain. With Real Madrid’s unexpected early exit, the remaining eight teams will know their chances at taking home the trophy are as good as ever.

Solskjær’s men will have to find a way of stopping Lionel Messi, which over two legs is a near-impossible task. Solskjær could deploy Spaniard Ander Herrera to man-mark the Argentine over the course of the 90 minutes, similar to his performance marking Eden Hazard in a 2017 match against Chelsea, which saw the Belgian completely played out of the game. Nevertheless, there seems to be an aura of destiny surrounding the diminutive number 10 this season.