Barcelona team news ahead of UEFA Europa League playoff first leg vs Man United

After securing a crucial 1-0 win over Villarreal away at Estadio de la Ceramica in La Liga, Barcelona will shift their focus towards the UEFA Europa League as they get set to take on Manchester United in the first leg of the playoff round.

Barça dropped down to the Europa League for a second season in a row after finishing third in their Champions League group, behind Bayern Munich and Inter Milan.

And they have been drawn against Erik ten Hag’s in-form Manchester United side, who finished second in their Europa League group, with a spot in the Round of 16 now on the line.

The first leg of the playoffs will be played this Thursday, February 16, at Spotify Camp Nou before the two teams will duel at Old Trafford next week.

Heading into Thursday’s clash, Barcelona are on a stunning 16-game unbeaten streak across all competitions and have won each of their last 11 games. But Manchester United have been performing quite well of late and will pose a serious test to Xavi Hernandez & co.

Barcelona Team News

Given the fact that the second leg will be played away from home, Barcelona will be aiming to take a big step towards a spot in the Round of 16 with a victory at Camp Nou this week.

However, Xavi will have to make do without two of his most important players against Manchester United.

Ousmane Dembele is out with a thigh injury that he sustained in the 1-0 win over Girona in La Liga towards the end of January.

The Frenchman is expected to be out for five weeks and has already missed three games against Real Betis, Sevilla, and Villarreal.

And he will be unavailable for both legs against Manchester United, with the expectation being that Dembele could return for the La Liga El Clasico against Real Madrid on March 19.

Another player that Xavi will have to cope without is captain and midfield general Sergio Busquets. The 34-year-old veteran suffered an ankle injury in the league game against Sevilla after a coming-together with Youssef En-Nesyri.

While the possibility of him taking pain-killer injections and featuring against Manchester United was considered an option, the Catalans have decided not to take that route. So, Busquets is definitively ruled out of the clash at Camp Nou but could return for the Old Trafford meeting.

Apart from those two players, Barcelona do not have any injury-enforced absentees and there are no footballers missing through suspension.