United face well-rested Barca side
Guardiola says his City side ‘know what to do’ when they come up against Tottenham
MANCHESTER duo City and United must each overturn 1-0 first leg deficits if they are to reach the Champions League semi-finals this week while Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur defend leads.
City hosts Spurs tomorrow in their quarter-final second leg having lost in London, while Liverpool head to Porto 2-0 up from Anfield.
Today United return to the Camp Nou, scene of their remarkable 1999 title triumph, but face an uphill task against Barcelona. In the other game Juventus and Ajax resume in Turin after a 1-1 draw in Amsterdam.
City, chasing an unprecedented quadruple of season trophies, missed an early penalty saved before conceding Son Hueng Min’s late winner in the first leg.
“The result is not the best but if you want to go through in the last stage you have to make these kind of comebacks,” manager Pep Guadiola said afterwards.
“Sometimes 1-0 is better than 0-0, as you know exactly what you have to do. We have to go out to score goals.”
Tottenham found a way to win after losing top scorer Harry Kane to injury early in the second half.
The England captain is still sidelined and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris knows his side face a challenge.
“It is the type of game all players want to play in,” he said. ‘It is going to be about details – the same as the first leg. We need experience, nerve and spirit.
“The spirit has been fantastic the last few weeks but you can never feel comfortable. You always need to push your limits.”
United put themselves behind the eight ball once again with an opening home loss.
They were able to bounce back against Paris Saint-Germain in the last round, thanks to an injury-time penalty, but the test is even tougher this time.
After labouring to a 2-1 league win over West Ham on Saturday, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted they must improve.
“I’m looking forward to a better performance and everyone knows we’ve got a way to go and we have to perform better,” he said. “Because if that was Barca today it would have been 5-0 [to them].”
Solskjaer has personal memories of a special Camp Nou comeback having netted an injury-time winner there when United beat Bayern Munich 2-1 to lift the trophy 20 years ago.
Barcelona have no injury problems ahead after Ernesto Valverde rested his entire outfield first team for the weekend draw with Huesca.
“It was difficult because a lot of new players came in but we understood it was what we needed to do,” said Valverde of his radical rotations.
Sergio Roberto was a minor doubt but returned to training on Sunday.
Liverpool should be confident going to Portugal after winning at Porto 5-0 in last season’s last 16, but Juergen Klopp isn’t taking anything for granted.
“The game is still on, we have to go there, we have to fight,” the Liverpool manager said.
“Porto will try everything to strike back – and that will be a really tough game again, but that’s how it should be in the quarter-finals.”
Juventus rested several starters and shrugged off Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Spal, which delayed their title celebrations, to switch their attention to the match at the Allianz Stadium.
“It’s a good sign, when everyone is needed, even on a mental level, and that’s why it’s important to have (Moise) Kean in these conditions,” coach Massimiliano Allegri said about the teenager who scored his sixth goal in as many Serie A games against Spal.
Kean is hoping for a third appearance in the tournament in an attack led by five-time tournament winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ajax go to Italy having not won any of their previous five games there, and only two of the 13 matches overall between the two sides.
And young star Frenkie de Jong is a hamstring doubt after being injured at the weekend.