Europa League Draw: Manchester United draw Barcelona in Europa playoff
After finishing second in their Europa League group, Manchester United has been drawn against Barcelona.
Manchester United’s Europa League knockout match has been drawn against Barcelona.
United’s inability to win Group E has forced them to compete against a club demoted from the Champions League, while Barcelona finished third behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.
United and Barcelona have a long history in European play, dating back to their European Cup Winners’ Cup match in 1984.
United came back from a 2-0 deficit in the first leg to stun Diego Maradona’s Barcelona 3-0 in what is still considered as the greatest atmosphere at Old Trafford
Alex Ferguson’s United became the first British team to triumph in Europe since the Heysel disaster in 1985 by defeating Barca in the 1991 European Cup Winners’ Cup final in Rotterdam.
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Johan Cruyff’s ‘Dream Team’ taught United a harsh lesson with a 4-0 drubbing in the Champions League group stage in 1994 and, four years later, United and Barcelona played out two pulsating 3-3 draws at the same stage of the competition.
United reached their third Champions League final by overcoming Barca 1-0 at Old Trafford in 2008 through Paul Scholes’s sliced strike but, under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, Barca outclassed United in the 2009 and 2011 finals.
United was most recently defeated 4-0 on aggregate by Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2019.
The matches will take place on February 16 and 23, with the opening leg at Camp Nou. United’s Premier League games against Leicester and Brentford at home on the weekends of February 18 and 25 are anticipated to be shifted to Sunday.
United’s draw is especially intriguing considering their summer failure to get Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
Europa League Draw
