Barcelona hold a slender advantage over Man Utd in their Champions League quarter-final tie as they face off at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night.
The Catalan giants came away with what could yet prove to be a priceless away goal from the first leg at Old Trafford, and they’ll be looking to go on and book their place in the last four.
It won’t be easy as they continue to juggle three competitions in search of a treble, as they continue to close in on another La Liga and Copa del Rey double.
However, coach Ernesto Valverde has gone with as close to a strongest line-up as possible as seen below in the club’s tweet, with a string of stalwarts returning to the XI after being rested for the draw with Huesca at the weekend.
Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique all return, and so they will certainly be confident of finishing the job and advancing to the semi-finals.
As seen in the tweets below though, many Barcelona fans aren’t completely satisfied with the XI that Valverde has put out, as he has opted to switch Nelson Semedo out from the first leg and bring in Sergi Roberto.
In addition, they took issue with Ousmane Dembele not getting a starting role after featuring at the weekend, but depending on how the game plays out, the Frenchman will certainly be an option for the reigning La Liga champions.
After their disappointment of being eliminated at the hands of Roma at this stage last season, Barcelona are under pressure to avoid a repeat scenario.
The mere fact that Messi starts gives them a big advantage, as the Argentine did suffer a slight injury scare in the first leg after being left with bloodied following a collision with Chris Smalling.
However, he starts and will hope to inspire Barcelona to another win, with Ashley Young seemingly tasked with keeping him quiet as he looks set to start at left-back for the visitors.
? XI
?? #BarçaMUFC
?? Força Barça!— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 16, 2019
Semedo & Dembele??
— Tibor Almasi ??/??/?? (@TibbeLaMaestro) April 16, 2019
DEMBÉLÉEEEEEEEE
— Niko (@iniesta_el8) April 16, 2019
no semedo? ?
— nessa (@tesxfayes) April 16, 2019
NO SEMEDO?!??? pic.twitter.com/0sC3eAPBDX
— Presh Frince (@ApDeMak) April 16, 2019
Brazilian Denis Suarez ahead of Ousmane Dembele…
— Sid (@OfficialS2G) April 16, 2019
Where the heck is Dembele?
— ??????? ???????? (@barcaboysatadru) April 16, 2019
Haha great joke now release the lineup with semedo and Dembele starting
— Mario (@10Barcafootball) April 16, 2019
Why no DEMBELE????? pic.twitter.com/h5gU58obDA
— Ronaldinho Gauchoism (@RonaldinhoG10) April 16, 2019
We reject this lineup..
Dembele.. Semedo— Jayplatt Dinero (@iAmJayPlatt) April 16, 2019
Okay I’m expecting Semedo and Ousmane to be subbed in at 60th minute and we’ll kill the game off.
— MessiMantra-? (@Sathish_Cule) April 16, 2019
