Man Utd 0-1 Barcelona: Paul Pogba says the comeback against PSG will be in ‘Barca’s mind’
Paul Pogba believes Manchester United’s comeback against Paris St-Germain will be in “Barcelona’s minds” when they play the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final at the Nou Camp.
Barca hold a 1-0 lead after Wednesday’s first leg at Old Trafford with the teams meeting in Spain on 16 April.
Against PSG in the last round, United overcame a 2-0 first-leg deficit to win 3-1 in Paris and advance on away goals.
Speaking after the Barca defeat Pogba said: “We know where we can hurt them”.
The France midfielder, 26, added: “Probably Paris will be in their minds for sure because they saw what we can do against PSG.
“Obviously they will be comfortable on their own pitch but let us see. We’ll see what happens at the end.
“Of course, we believe that we can beat them.”
Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says United can score away at Barcelona and that would be a “greater achievement” than the win in Paris.
“We’re playing against a great team. It’s a tough one – we’ll go there with the knowledge we can score over there,” Solskjaer told BT Sport.
“We go there with one thing in my mind: we have to score.M
“The PSG performance gives us hope and belief we can do it, but we are playing against the favourites.”PSG performance gives us belief against Barcelona – Solskjaer
Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde also refused to write off the English side.
“Look how they did in Paris, you need only to look at how they did there – the result is yet to be decided,” said the Spaniard.
“They are a powerful side and when they pressed us they caused us difficulties. Football is a funny game, it’s full of everything. It’s hard to move the ball when they are being aggressive in their pressing.
“We thought it was going to be very difficult and 1-0 is not going to decide anything.”
| Champions League 2018-19 | |
|---|---|
| Number of goals Barcelona have conceded at home | 2 |
| Number of goals Manchester United have scored away | 9 |
Barcelona went ahead at Old Trafford through Luke Shaw’s 12th-minute own goal. United restricted the Spanish league leaders to just the one goal, but they did not have a shot on target themselves.
With Nemanja Matic injured, 22-year-old Scotland midfielder Scott McTominay played and Solskjaer was delighted with his performance.
“He’s developing every time he plays,” said Solskjaer. “He comes into training every day with a fantastic attitude. That is the way to improve. Every game he plays, he grows and grows.
“He was the first one to take the ball down and settle us. We had to slow the game down. We were too quick to give the ball away. The three midfielders did really well.”
However, the United manager was less impressed with referee Gianluca Rocchi, who took no action on a potential handball against Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets, after the midfielder had already been booked.
Tottenham’s Danny Rose was cautioned for handball during his side’s Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City on Tuesday, but Busquets did not get a second yellow card.
Asked whether Busquets was lucky to remain on the pitch, Solskjaer said: “Yes. Why does Danny Rose get a yellow card? It is that consistency.
“But there is nothing we can do about it. We are where we are. [Busquets] will play against us over there.”
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