Battle at the Theatre of Dreams
Barcelona travel to the Theatre of Dreams in what before hand looks to be an incredibly exciting Champions League quarter final. Will the Spaniards build upon their utterly dominant season or will the Red Devils shock another continental behemoth?
Manchester United
The Reds have been a tad bit unlucky regarding their Champions league draws this season first finding themselves in the same group as Juventus, a strong Valencia side and a plucky Young boys team. They eventually beat the Italian giants away from home and followed that up with a routine win at home to Swiss outfit Young Boys to advance to the round of 16. What followed was nothing less than shock and awe as United came back from a 2-0 deficit at the Parc de Princes to eventually advance on away goals. The red side of Manchester will without a doubt be hoping for another inspired display in order to overcome a Barca side that is currently leading La Liga with a whopping 11 points.
The going has however been tough for Solskjaer's men since that glorious night in Paris with the negative trend kicking off at the Emirates with a loss to Arsenal which was followed by double defeats to Wolverhampton and a solitary win against a Watford side that honestly deserved more. Despite United's poor form going into this match it is worth remembering that Manchester United have only lost once at home this season and that was to PSG, so Old Trafford is still very much the semi-impenetrable fortress it once was. The Champions League is naturally a whole different beast compared to the Prem and the men in red will guaranteed be revving to go despite their recent rough patch.
Notable absentees
Herrera, Rashford, Bailly, Darmian, Sanchez and Valencia.
Barcelona
The Blaugrana are so far having an absolutely amazing season leading the La Liga by a commanding 11 points and also managing to decimate their Champions League group containing the likes of Tottenham, Inter and PSV Eindhoven. In other words, no easy task. They followed this up with a routine 5-1 thumping of Lyon in the round of 16 and look very capable of lifting the coveted CL trophy at the end of it all.
Barca have not lost in 16 games and have the duo of Messi and Suarez currently firing on all cylinders with 22 goals between them during the same period of time. Barca are looking like the real deal this season and will be eager to show off their dominance against a classic rival like Manchester United, which basically means that the Red Devils are basically in for a very tough time indeed.
Notable absentees
Dembele, Rafinha and Vermaelen.
Betting tip
After having witnessed Barcelona's sheer brilliance this season and from taking a quick peek at the statistics there is no way I cannot back a Barcelona win which is exactly why i will be backing a Barcelona win at 1/1 with Bethard.
Another bet worth a punt is Under 2.5 goals since all of United's CL home games this season have ended with less than 3 goals scored. This bet can be found at the great odds of 21/20.
