Three hot spots in the great battle of Man Utd - Barca

* Man Utd - Barca: 3 am on Friday 24/2, Hanoi time.

Ten Hag got off to a bad start, losing 1-2 to Brighton at Old Trafford in turn and then losing 0-4 at Brentford in August 2022. At that time, the Dutch coach received much criticism and was even called for by some fans to be fired.

After taking over the hot seat from Ralf Rangnick, Ten Hag wanted to quickly impose his principles on a club that had little room for flexibility. He wanted Man Utd to develop the ball from the home field and this led to serious problems. Both Brighton and Brentford pressed high, causing Man Utd to make many mistakes in the home field and failed.

From there, Ten Hag adjusted his approach and demanded Man Utd play directly, with long flicks from David de Gea. When facing stronger opponents, the "Red Devils" adopt a more cautious style, wanting to reduce the pressure on the defense and find opportunities from counter-attacks.

That is the tactical system applied by Ten Hag when he was a guest at Camp Nou on February 16. Man Utd only controlled the ball 39%, but very dangerous with transition situations. Going to the match against Leicester - the club was rated weaker, Man Utd controlled the ball more with 57% and won jubilantly 3-0.

It is likely that Man Utd will change its approach again by letting Barca dominate the ball right at Old Trafford. In the first leg, Man Utd did not die, but arranged a 4-2-3-1 scheme, with a one-on-one strategy in the midfield.

In particular, the most surprising use of personnel was the fact that Ten Hag ranked Weghorst as a midfielder, giving him more responsibility for defense than attack. The Dutch coach tested this layout in the match against Leeds a few days earlier and was successful. It was Weghorst who assisted Alejandro Garnacho to seal a 2-0 victory at the end of the match.

At the Nou Camp, Weghorst was once again up to the task. Many people think that Bruno Fernandes will kick the attack with Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford on the edge, but it is Weghorst who supports Fred and Casemiro in the midfield.

This layout causes Weghorst to reduce his scoring performance, but increase his contribution to Man Utd's play. Even when Man Utd is deep in defense, the 1m97 tall player also steps back into the dispute to help close the holes in the defence.

Sunsport believes that Ten Hag can continue to let Weghorst play in midfield and push Rashford to the top in attack. This could lead to the next potentially important tactical decision.

"No wonder if Rashford is the one to decide this match," Sunsport commented. "Whether Man Utd will continue or not depends entirely on how Barca deal with the threat from the star striker who is in good form."

Michael Owen once asserted that "Rashford will not be able to score 30 goals a season". But when the 2022-2023 season has passed more than half, Rashford has 24 goals in all competitions, including 14 in the Premier League, one in the FA Cup, five in the League Cup and four in the European Cup. This is Rashford's best achievement since he entered the first team of Man Utd, surpassing the statistics of scoring 22 goals in the 2019-2020 season.

In the first leg at Camp Nou, Rashford continued to sublimate when he imprinted his shoes on both Man Utd's goals. The 25-year-old striker penetrated the penalty box and finished in the corner near the goalkeeper Ter Stegen in the 53rd minute, then soloed on the right wing and slammed in to touch Kounde's body and flew into the net 59 minutes. Rashford's speed was a weapon. that Barca has not been able to resolve.

A few days later, Rashford scored twice in the same scenario to help Man Utd crush Leicester. In the 25th minute, the England striker broke the offside trap to receive Bruno Fernandes' pass and then shot Danny Ward diagonally in the face-to-face phase. In the 56th minute, Rashford received a slot from Fred and then accelerated on the left wing, passed a guest defender and finished the goal line.

Sunsport said Xavi has two ways to contain Rashford. Firstly, Barca can retreat deep into the squad, limiting the space between goalkeeper and defender - something that Rashford can exploit. However, this approach is unlikely because Xavi prefers attacking football and pressing high.

The second method is more reasonable for Barca, is to use central defenders with good speed. Ronald Araujo is fast and definitely the most reliable. However, Marcos Alonso - 34-year-old centre-back was ranked in the first leg - slowly and was repeatedly exploited by Rashford.

Therefore, Xavi can push Jules Kounde into a central defender pairing with Araujo. The Spain coach wants to use Kounde at right-back, but may be forced to change to deal with Rashford's pace.

This layout can help Barca raise the squad more while still having defensive players with enough speed to keep up with the dangerous player on the Man Utd side when close to goal.

Lionel Messi shined to help Barca beat Man Utd 3-1 in the Champions League final in 2011, but it was the midfield battle that decided the match at that time. Man Utd's midfield with Michael Carrick, Park Ji-Sung, Ryan Giggs is considered mobile, but the trio of Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and Xavi are on another level.

For most of the big battle at Wembley, Man Utd's midfield took turns trying to keep up with Messi. This helps Barca's midfield always have a free player and easily put the ball past the defense of Man Utd.

Sir Alex Ferguson once hinted at the mistake of not asking Park Ji-Sung to accompany Messi. This layout can help the remaining midfielders of Man Utd deal with the opponent's ability to control.

12 years later, it was Barca who had difficulty in the midfield. In the first leg, the trio of Frenkie de Jong, Franck Kessie, Pedri had many difficulties before Man Utd's good players, especially Fred and Casemiro. Because the midfielders lacked coordination and were negligent in controlling the ball, Barca many times could not deploy a smooth attack from the home field.

Before Man Utd's approach, Barca needed midfielders who could hold the ball. De Jong and Pedri could have done well, but Kessie was not up to the task. When receiving the ball with his back turned and under pressure from the opponent, the Ivory Coast midfielder was confused and made many dangerous errors.

Despite the absence of both Pedri and Gavi, Xavi will welcome the return of Sergio Busquets in the second leg today. The Spanish midfielder is the only player left from the Barca squad that won Man Utd in the Champions League final 12 years ago. Although no longer maintaining speed at the age of 34, Busquets is still highly appreciated for his ability to hold the ball, escape pressing and always keep a cool head.

Having both De Jong and Busquets as the fulcrum for the whole team could be a decisive factor in helping Barca cope with intense pressure from the powerful midfielders of the Old Trafford owner.