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| Manchester United players. |
In the first leg of their Europa League knockout match, Barcelona will host Manchester United at Camp Nou. This will be a huge game between two of the best teams in Europe.
Even though both teams have already established themselves in the Champions League, the most recent match between the two clubs will be their first in Europe's top club championship.
In the early rounds of this season's Champions League competition, Barcelona finished third in their group behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. As a result, the club will compete in the Europa League knockout stages for the second consecutive year.
Even though they were victorious over Viktoria Plzen both at home and on the road twice, Barcelona failed to place themselves in the top two of their division since they only managed to win one point out of a possible four against Bayern and Inter.
Barca's most significant achievement was a one-goal triumph away against Villarreal over the weekend. The final score was 1-0.
Since losing 3-0 at home to Bayern in their final group stage game on October 26—their only loss at Camp Nou in 14 games this season—Xavi's team has done better than expected at home and is trying to make the longest 16-game unbeaten streak in all tournaments.
Xavi's team is currently on track to win their first La Liga championship in four years, as they have an 11-point cushion despite having played one more match.
Barcelona's near-perfect top-flight record has coincided with a dip in performance from challengers and defending champions Real Madrid.
Barcelona, which has won the Champions League five times, would probably rather be playing in Europe's top club competition.
However, the chance to win the Europa League for the first time will surely motivate Xavi and his teammates, who have already won the Spanish Super Cup this year, as they try to keep up with their family responsibilities while playing a two-legged match against Manchester United.
Even though Barcelona has lost five of its last 11 European games at Camp Nou, they have won all four of their most recent games against Manchester United.
The Red Devils have had to adjust to the rigors of Europa League play after winning the tournament six times in the past 12 seasons, over 15 years after their last Champions League victory in 2007–08.
The Red Devils struggled early in this year's pool stages, losing to Real Sociedad by a slim margin of 1-0 at home.
Erik ten Hag's team got back on track and won five straight games, but they had to accept a second-place finish behind Sociedad based on goal differential, which meant they had to push Sociedad to advance to the playoff round instead of getting a mark that automatically qualified them for the round of 16.
With an EFL Cup final match against Newcastle United coming up later in February and an FA Cup fifth-round match with West Ham United in March, Man United continues to be in the thick of things this season.
They are now only five points off the Premier League leaders, though Arsenal currently have two remaining games.
Had Manchester United not lost three of their previous five league games, the distance at the top of the table may have been less.
The Red Devils will want to improve their reputation against Spain because in their last 14 knockout games in Europe, they have only won three of them.
The Red Devils have dropped precisely four of their 16 away games in all events this campaign. In the second round of the Champions League last year, United was unsuccessful against Atletico Madrid after losing the first leg 1-0 at home and drawing the second game 1-1 away.
TV Channels to air Live Europa League in Kenya
- GOTV channel 31
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