Europa League 2023 Barcelona vs Manchester United, facts and statistics | UEFA Europa League
Two of the biggest names in European football qualify for the playoffs of the UEFA Europa League. “Barcelona” and “Manchester United” meet for the fourteenth time in the European Cup.
“Barcelona” finished third in the UEFA Champions League group with seven points for the second consecutive season, beating “Bayern” and “Inter” for 17 years in a row.
Despite collecting 15 points in UEFA Europa League Group E, United finished second to Real Sociedad on goal difference, with a higher score than the five group winners.
Previous meetings
These two clubs know each other well in UEFA competitions. In the confrontations, Barça dominates, scoring 24 goals against United, 6 against 3, and 15 against England. The La Liga club have won the last four meetings between the two sides, including the 2009 and 2011 UEFA Champions League finals, although United have the upper hand in the first-leg play-off ties with Barça having secured two berths to one match.
Barca’s only double against United came in the most recent meetings between the two sides, as Barca beat United 1-0 in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals at Old Trafford thanks to an early own goal. came when he defeated i. They won 3-0 at Camp Nou thanks to Luke Shaw, a brace from Lionel Messi and a goal from Philippe Coutinho. Despite another 3–0 win at home, the Blaugrana lost to United’s arch-rivals Liverpool in the semi-finals and were beaten 4–0 at Anfield six days later. They have not met the English club since then.
The 2009 UEFA Champions League final in Rome was dominated by Barça with Samuel Eto’o and Messi scoring in each half. Two years later, Messi was on target again between goals from Pedro Rodriguez and David Villa as Barcelona won 3-1 at Wembley, with Wayne Rooney scoring United’s only goal. Current captain Sergio Busquets and coach Javi Hernández were in Barça’s squad for both finals.
United’s last victory over Barca was in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, when Paul Scholes scored the only goal of the game at Old Trafford after Cristiano Ronaldo had missed a penalty in the first leg at the Camp Nou.
Barca have never lost at home to United (W3 D2) and have kept four clean sheets in four of those five matches, apart from a 3-3 draw in the Champions League group stage. 1998/99 UEFA Champions League where Alex Ferguson’s team beat Bayern 2-1 in the final at Camp Nou.
The heaviest defeat of “United” in the UEFA Champions League was in this stadium, in the group stage of 1994/95, when Hristo Stoichkov scored two goals, they lost 4:0 to “Barcelona”.
United defeated Barcelona in the 1991 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final in Rotterdam, with former Barcelona striker Mark Hughes scoring both goals in a 2–1 victory.
The Catalan team has a positive record of 76 previous matches against English clubs in UEFA competitions (36 wins, 21 draws, 19 losses). Their record at home is 22 wins, 11 draws and 2 defeats, with only two losses coming at the hands of Liverpool, most recently in the 2006/07 Champions League round of 16 first leg (1–2); the Spaniards are unbeaten in their next 13 matches against Premier League visitors (9 wins, 4 draws).
FC Barcelona’s overall record in European matches home and away against English clubs is 15 qualifiers and 11 eliminations, while United’s record is 8 qualifiers and 10 eliminations against Spanish teams.
The Red Devils have won just 19 of their 68 matches against Spanish clubs and just 6 of their 30 in Spain (12 draws, 12 losses), although three of those wins have come in their last four trips (1 draw). , including in Spain. Last European trip in November when they won 1-0 over Real Sociedad in San Sebastian thanks to Alejandro Garnacho’s goal on the 17the minute.
United’s last five European campaigns have been shut out by Spanish clubs, with Atlético de Madrid beating them in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 last season (1-1, 0-1).
About the teams
Barcelona
FC Barcelona finished second to Real Madrid in the 2021/22 La Liga, giving them three years without a league title, their longest streak since the early 2000s. The most successful team to get out of the UEFA Champions League group for the first time since 2000 /01.
This season, Barca are once again out of Europe’s best club competition after six matches. Xavi’s side started their campaign with a big win over Viktoria Plzeň (5-1 home, 4-2 away) but have picked up just one point between the two, losing twice to Bayern for the second campaign in a row (0-2 away). 0-3 home) and also lost to Inter, who won 1-0 at the San Siro before drawing 3-3 in Camp No. 3.
“Barcelona”, which debuted in the UEFA Europa League last season, did not beat “Napoli” in the playoffs (1:1 home, 4:2 a) and “Galatasaray” in the 1/8 finals (0:0 home, 2:1 a) before the last winner in the 1/4 final Eintracht Frankfurt (1-1 away, 2-3 at home). Barça have appeared in the UEFA Cup 11 times, but have never lifted the trophy or even reached the final, being eliminated from the semi-finals four times (1975/76, 1977/78, 1995/96 and 2000/01).
Barca have won just 2 of their last 11 home games in Europe (4D 5), conceding three or more goals in six of those matches. He is yet to win the UEFA Europa League at Camp Nou (2 draws, 1 loss).
Man. United
United finished sixth in the Premier League last season with 58 points to qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage. They finished their 2021/22 UEFA Champions League group ahead of Villarreal, Atalanta and Young Boys, but were knocked out by Atletico in the round of 16 under interim manager Ralf Rangnick, who was replaced by Eric ten Haag as coach this summer. .
United’s current manager Eric Ten Haag’s first European match ended with a defeat to the Spanish team. After that, “Red Devils” lost 0:1 to “Real Sociedad” in “Old Trafford” in the first match of Group E. However, they won their other five matches, scoring twice against Sheriff (2-0 a., 3-0 dom.) and Omonoia (3-2 a., 1-0 dom.) before turning the score on the first day in San. Sebastian, where they must win by two or more goals to knock their rivals out of first place.
This is United’s sixth appearance in the UEFA Europa League play-offs. They have always reached at least 16 finals and have qualified for the last four in each of their last three campaigns, winning the competition in 2016/17 before exiting in the semi-finals in 2019/20, where they faced Sevilla and finished in the final. The runners-up in their last game of the 2020/21 season, losing 11-10 on penalties to Villarreal after a 1-1 draw in Gdańsk.
United are unbeaten in six away games in Europe (4 wins, 2 draws), three in Spain (2 wins, 1 draw). His record in matches outside the UEFA Europa League play-offs is 7 wins, 3 draws and 4 losses, including none in his last 9 matches. United’s last away defeat in the Europa League play-offs was 3-2 in the second leg of the 2020/21 semi-final against AS Roma, where the English side won both legs 8-5.
We know each other…
Barcelona’s Dutch striker Memphis Depay joined United from PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 2015 and moved to Lyon in January 2017. He scored only 7 goals in 53 games, including five in Europe. David de Gea, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw were among his teammates.
6 more Barça players played in Premier League clubs:
Marcos Alonso (Bolton 2010-13, loan from Sunderland 2014, Chelsea 2016-22)
Hector Bellerin (Arsenal 2012-22, Watford 2013/14 loan)
Andreas Christensen (Chelsea 2014-22)
Eric Garcia (Manchester City 2018-21)
Raphinha (Leeds 2020-22)
Ferran Torres (Manchester City 2020-21)
Spanish goalkeeper De Gea, who started his career at Atletico before moving to Old Trafford in 2011, is one of four players in United’s squad with La Liga experience. Rafael Varane (2012-21) and summer signing Casemiro (2013/14, 2015-22) were both strong players for Real Madrid, while Martial spent the second half of last season on loan at Sevilla FC.
Barça midfielder Frenkie de Jong worked under Ten Haag at Ajax in 2017-19, winning the Dutch domestic double and reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2018/19. United’s player Donnie van de Beek was also part of this team.
Raphinha plays with three United players in the Brazil team: Antoni, Casemiro and Fred; Depay and De Jong play in Holland with Van de Beek and Tyrell Malacia; Ousmane Dembélé and Jules Koundé (Barça) are Varane’s teammates in the French team; and Christensen and Christian Eriksen (United) play together in Denmark.
Ten Hag’s record in UEFA competition against Spanish clubs is 4 wins and 4 losses, his biggest success coming in the 2018/19 Champions League last 16 second leg with Real Madrid beating Ajax 4-1 to knock the champions out of contention. from the competition.
United are one of two former winners of the UEFA Europa League play-offs, the other being four-time champions Sevilla. Four other teams (Ajax, Juventus, PSV Eindhoven and Shakhtar Donetsk) lifted the trophy as the UEFA Cup.
FC Barcelona is one of only two teams to qualify for the UEFA Europa League play-offs for the second consecutive season, the other being local rivals Sevilla FC.
