RESULTS AND FIXTURES
the threat of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi, who already has 42 goals from 39 games this season. Solskjaer was frank when asked if he had a plan to deal with Messi, but pointed out United have faced similarly gifted players in Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe this season and managed to come through those stern tests. “Well, what kind of plan can you have to stop one of the best players in the world?” said Solskajer. “We’re looking forward to it and relishing the opportunity.
“This season we’ve played against Juventus and Ronaldo, and PSG with Mbappe. “We’ve had Chelsea and Hazard, but with Barcelona it’s not just Messi, it’s Luis Suarez and Philippe OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER has told his Manchester United players to be wary of Barcelona’s dirty tricks tonight.
Solskjaer said United’s players must keep their focus and not be drawn into making silly fouls – or Barca superstar Lionel Messi will make them pay. United host the Spanish giants in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, with Solskjaer warning against giving Messi any chance to showcase his magic. Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets are among their canniest players in drawing fouls, with Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi set for a testing night at Old Trafford. Coutinho as well.
They’ll all keep our defenders on their toes, so let’s see how we manage.”
Despite the size of the task facing them against Barca’s array of world-class talent, Solskjaer said: “Confidence is high. What we did against PSG and how we’ve climbed the table, clawing back points, the players have given themselves and supporters great confidence and belief we can do this.
“The Champions League is possible – we can go on to win it. But whoever wins will have some luck and will have to perform at their best.” Live on BT Sport 2 from 7pm “We know we can’t give fouls away,” said Reds boss Solskjaer.
“How many goals has Messi scored from freekicks just outside the box?
“So, of course, we’ve got to be careful and the referee can’t buy little things.
“Players have talked about it – how we got dragged into making fouls against Paris Saint-Germain in the previous round and how European football is.
“You’ve got to be more patient in tackles. Some of these players will have some tricks up their sleeves – they’re streetwise players. We’ve learned from that game.
“I can feel the tension and excitement. At training today and yesterday, you can see players wanting to play.”
This is the first Champions League meeting between Barcelona and Manchester United since the 2011 final, which Barcelona won 3-1 at Wembley.
Manchester United have never lost a home European match against Barcelona (W2 D2 L0). This is the first meeting between the sides at Old Trafford since the second leg of the 2007-08 Champions League semi-final, a 1-0 win for the Red Devils.
This is Barcelona’s 17th Champions League quarter-final appearance, a joint-record with Bayern Munich. They have qualified for an 12th successive season, a competition record.
Manchester United have won two of their last 11 Champions League knockout ties (W2 D3 L6). They failed to win either of their quarter-final games in the 2013-14 season under David Moyes against Bayern Munich.
Barcelona have progressed from 79% of their Champions League knockout ties when they played the first leg away from home (23 of 29), compared to just 33% when playing the first leg at home (four of 12).
Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku scored with both of his shots in their 3-1 win over PSG in the last 16. However, he had failed to score with any of his previous eight shots in the Champions League this season. The Belgian has scored with his last three shots in the Champions League knockout stages.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi has scored 22 Champions League goals in 30 appearances against English teams – more than any other player in the history of the competition.
Messi has failed to score in any of his last 11 Champions League quarter-final appearances for Barcelona. Since netting against PSG in April 2013, none of the Argentinian forward’s attempted 49 shots went in at this stage of the competition.
Manchester United have lost two home Champions League matches so far this season, against Juventus and PSG. They’ve only lost three in one season once previously, during the 1996-97 campaign, with boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer featuring in all three defeats. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Quarter-Final 1st Leg LIVERPOOL (2) 2 FC PORTO (0) 0 Keita 5
Firmino 26
TOTTENHAM (0) 1 MAN CITY (0) 0 Son 78 Att: 60,044 SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP BLACKBURN (0) 2 DERBY (0) 0 Rothwell 76 Att: 12,590 Dack 90
BOLTON (0) 0 MIDDLESBROUGH (2) 2 Att: 12,259 Fletcher 16, 28 BRISTOL CITY (3) 3 WEST BROM (0) 2 Brownhill 2 Gayle 47 Weimann 16 Rodriguez 74 Hunt 19
PRESTON (0) 0
Att: 18,019
SHEFF WED (0) 3
Matias 47, 67
Boyd 58
SWANSEA (2) 3
James 23
Van der Hoorn 40
McBurnie 86 LEEDS (0) 2 Bamford 62, 76 NOTTM FOR (0) 0 Att: 23,931
STOKE (1) 1 McClean 45 Att: 17,804
P W D L F A Norwich 40 25 9 6 82 48 Leeds 41 24 7 10 68 42 Sheff Utd 40 23 8 9 67 37 West Brom 41 20 10 11 77 55 Bristol City 40 18 11 11 54 44 Aston Villa 40 16 15 9 73 56 Middlesbro 41 16 13 12 43 36 Derby 40 16 12 12 55 50 Sheff Wed 41 15 14 12 52 54 Nottm Forest 41 14 15 12 55 50 Preston 41 15 12 14 59 55 Hull 40 16 9 15 59 57 Swansea 40 16 8 16 55 50 Brentford 40 13 12 15 63 56 Stoke 41 11 18 12 39 45 Blackburn 41 13 11 17 55 63 Birmingham 40 13 14 13 56 52 QPR 40 12 8 20 46 65 Wigan 40 10 11 19 43 59 Millwall 39 10 10 19 45 58 Reading 40 9 13 18 43 60 Rotherham 40 8 15 17 43 68 Bolton 41 8 8 25 29 68 Ipswich 40 4 15 21 32 65 SKY BET LEAGUE ONE ACCRINGTON (0) 0 ROCHDALE (0) 1 Att: 2,824 Rathbone 71 SUNDERLAND (1) 1 BURTON (1) 1 Baldwin 27 Morgan og 19 Att: 29,513
WYCOMBE (0) 0
Att: 5,487
Pts 84 79 77 70 65 63 61 60 59 57 57 57 56 51 51 50 44 44 41 40 40 39 32 27 CHARLTON (1) 1
Pearce 35 P W D L F A Pts Luton 41 25 12 4 80 34 87 Sunderland 40 21 17 2 70 36 80 Barnsley 41 22 13 6 68 33 79 Portsmouth 40 22 11 7 71 43 77 Charlton 41 22 10 9 59 37 76 Doncaster 41 18 12 11 69 52 66 Peterborough 40 17 10 13 62 54 61 Blackpool 41 14 16 11 47 45 58 Coventry 41 16 10 15 45 45 58 Burton Albion 41 15 12 14 57 48 57 Fleetwood 40 15 11 14 52 43 56 Oxford Utd 41 13 13 15 50 56 52 Gillingham 41 13 9 19 54 66 48 Shrewsbury 41 11 14 16 45 53 47 Plymouth 41 12 11 18 51 65 47 Bristol Rovers 41 11 13 17 41 45 46 Acc Stanley 41 11 12 18 41 60 45 Scunthorpe 41 12 9 20 49 70 45 Rochdale 41 12 9 20 50 79 45 Wycombe 41 11 11 19 50 64 44 Southend 41 12 7 22 49 61 43 Wimbledon 41 12 7 22 37 59 43 Walsall 41 11 9 21 44 67 42 Bradford 41 10 6 25 43 69 36 SKY BET LEAGUE TWO MACCLESFIELD (2) 3 EXETER (2) 2 Smith 30, 85 Bowman 27, 34 Rose 45 pen Att: 1,588 NEWPORT (0) 0 SWINDON (0) 0 Att: 3,314
P W D L F A Lincoln City 41 23 14 4 72 37 Mansfield 41 19 15 7 61 34 MK Dons 41 21 9 11 66 43 Bury 41 20 11 10 74 50 Tranmere 41 19 11 11 59 44 Forest Green 41 17 13 11 60 42 Exeter 41 17 11 13 55 45 Carlisle 41 18 7 16 62 56 Colchester 41 17 9 15 58 50 Swindon 41 15 14 12 51 48 Oldham 40 15 12 13 60 48 Stevenage 41 16 9 16 47 52 Newport Co 40 16 9 15 49 57 Northampton 41 12 17 12 52 54 Crewe 41 15 8 18 49 53 Cheltenham 41 14 10 17 53 59 Grimsby 41 14 7 20 40 52 Port Vale 41 12 11 18 36 46 Morecambe 41 12 10 19 46 63 Cambridge Utd 41 12 9 20 37 58 Crawley Town 41 12 7 22 41 61 Macclesfield 41 9 12 20 45 68 Yeovil 41 9 10 22 38 60 Notts County 41 8 13 20 43 74 SCOTTISH CHAMPIONSHIP AYR (1) 1 QUEEN OF SOUTH (0) 0 Shankland 43 pen Att: 1,582 MORTON (0) 1 ALLOA (0) 2 Kiltie 51 pen Graham 54 Att: 1,498 Hamilton 80 ROSS CO (0) 1 DUNFERMLINE (0) 0 Grivosti 60 Att: 3,222
P W D L F A Pts Ross County 32 19 7 6 54 30 64 Dundee Utd 32 16 8 8 43 38 56 Ayr 31 14 8 9 45 30 50 Inverness CT 32 12 13 7 43 35 49 Dunfermline 32 11 8 13 32 35 41 Morton 32 8 12 12 30 43 36 Qn of South 32 8 11 13 39 39 35 Alloa 32 9 8 15 35 48 35 Partick 31 9 6 16 36 49 33 Falkirk 32 7 11 14 33 43 32 VANARAMA PREMIER Gateshead (0) 0 AFC Fylde (1) 1 L Orient (1) 3 Eastleigh (2) 2 Maidstone Utd (0) 2 Barnet (1) 1 VANARAMA NORTH
Alfreton (0) 1 Hereford FC (0) 1 Blyth (2) 4 Nuneaton (0) 1 Chester FC (0) 0 Stockport (3) 6 Telford (0) 1 Altrincham (1) 1 EVO-STIK PREMIER NORTH Farsley Celtic (1) 2 Stafford (1) 1 Marine (0) 1 Matlock Town (2) 3 Mickleover (0) 0 Witton (0) 0 Warrington (0) 1 Whitby (0) 0 Workington (0) 0 S Shields (1) 2 WOMEN’S INTERNATIONAL ENGLAND (1) 2 SPAIN (0) 1 Mead 36 Bonmati 67 White 46 Pts 83 72 72 71 68 64 62 61 60 59 57 57 57 53 53 52 49 47 46 45 43 39 37 37
ITZULIA BASQUE COUNTRY, Spain, Stage 2 (Zumarraga Gorraiz, 149.5km):
1 J Alaphilippe (Fra/QuickStep) 3h 29m 37s, 2 B Lambrecht (Bel/ Lotto) +1s, 3 M Kwiatkowski (Pol/ Sky) Same Time, 4 O Fraile (Spa/ Astana) ST, 5 V Madouas (Fra/ FDJ) ST UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Quarter-Final 1st Leg
Ajax v Juventus (8)
Man Utd v Barcelona (8)
SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP Birmingham v Sheff Utd (7.45) Brentford v Ipswich (7.45) Hull v Wigan (7.45) Millwall v QPR (7.45) Norwich v Reading (7.45) Rotherham v Aston Villa (7.45)
BBL CHAMPIONSHIP London Lions v Bristol (7.30)