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Barcelona are set to host Manchester United in the second leg of their crunch Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday night.
The Blaugrana head into the fixture firmly in the driving seat, having posted a fairly comfortable 1-0 victory in the first leg at Old Trafford and would be confident of finishing the job off at the Nou Camp.
The superiority of Barcelona's players coupled with their first leg result and incredible home record in the Champions League means that the Catalans are heavily installed as favourites to progress to the semifinal of the UCL for the first time in four seasons.
However, they would do well to keep their optimism in check, as the English giants are more than capable of causing an upset. In this piece, we shall be highlighting four reasons why Barcelona should be wary of Manchester United.
#4 Messi's poor record at this stage of the competition
Lionel Messi is unarguably the greatest player in Barcelona's history and to a large extent the best ever in the entirety of football's history.
His performances for Barcelona have placed him on a pedestal much higher than anyone else who has represented the Blaugrana and the rewards of his displays can be seen on both a personal and collective level at the club.
Nevertheless, for all of his other-worldly abilities, Messi has shown a disappointing lack of cutting edge at the quarterfinal stage of the Champions League in recent seasons.
With 108 goals, he is the second leading goalscorer of all time in the Champions League behind none other than Cristiano Ronaldo and of these, 10 have come in the quarterfinals, but rather surprisingly, the great Argentine has failed to find the back of the net in the quarterfinals stage since coming off the bench to equalize against PSG in April 2013.
This is a run encompassing six seasons and 11 matches consecutively, as Messi has drawn blanks in home and away fixtures against Atletico Madrid (twice), Juventus (twice), AS Roma and Manchester United (first leg).
It comes as no surprise that of these five seasons when Messi has failed to score in the quarterfinal, Barcelona have progressed just once and this must remain at the back of their minds when they face off against Manchester United.
When Messi plays well, Barcelona tend to play well. However, when their number 10 struggles, they also struggle and given his shortcomings at this stage in recent years, Barcelona would do well to remember that the job is far from done.
#3 United have nothing to lose
As far back as when the draws were made, very few people gave Manchester United much of a chance of qualification, as the difference in class, the crop of players, as well as the form of the two teams, was vast.
This viewpoint has been further enhanced by the first leg result, with Manchester United needing at least two unreplied goals to stand a chance of progressing.
This has led many all but cast off Manchester United's chances for progress but this could very well play in the Red Devil's favor.
Given their status as the underdogs to progress in this tie, Manchester United very much have nothing to lose and everything to gain which could see them fighting tooth and nail in a bid to silence their critics and prove them wrong.
There is a cliched saying that the worst man to fight is one who has nothing to lose, and Manchester United are very much in such scenario and as such, Barcelona could find themselves with a lot more than they bargained for.
#2 This represents their only shot at a trophy this season
Manchester United were once used to winning multiple trophies every season, but those days are long gone. Since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure, the club has fallen on hard times.
This season started off very poorly for United under Jose Mourinho and they found themselves eliminated from the League Cup as early as September by Championship side Derby County at Old Trafford.
Their poor league form also saw them out of contention for league glory early on and even though results drastically improved upon the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a 2-1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the quarterfinal of the FA Cup left the Champions League as the only winnable trophy available for Manchester United.
Solskjaer has stated multiple times in the past that he would love to win a trophy with United this season and seeing as the Champions League is the only hope of actualizing this dream, they would go all out to keep their dream within touching distance.
#1 United have pulled off some notable away scalps this season
While this might have been a topsy-turvy campaign by United's normal standards, one thing which even the most ardent critic cannot deny is that the club has pulled off some memorable away results this season.
Back in the group stage, having lost the first leg of their group stage game against Juventus to a Ronaldo-inspired goal, the Red Devils rallied back in the second leg with their hopes of qualification hanging in the balance to triumph 2-1.
Perhaps an even more spectacular performance came in the last round when they overcame a 2-0 first leg deficit at Old Trafford defeat PSG 3-1 in the second leg, thus knocking the French team out of the competition.
Given that Manchester United have shown a penchant this season for overcoming high odds against them and pulling off spectacular away victories, Barcelona would need to keep their guard up to avoid a similar scenario befalling them.
