Xavi identifies the Man Utd star most 'dangerous' to Barcelona
Barcelona coach Xavi has identified Marcus Rashford as the Manchester United player he expects will pose the most threat to his team when they meet in the Europa League on Thursday.
United have travelled to Spain ahead of the game at Camp Nou, which is set to be the most eye-catching match in Europe this week – despite being in UEFA’s secondary competition – given how both teams have been performing in recent months.
Although their Champions League group stage proved to be a disaster, Barça have hardly put a foot wrong in La Liga to leave Real Madrid in their dust.
United, meanwhile, appear to finally be on their way back towards challenging for major honours thanks to the transformative impact of manager Erik ten Hag.
One player who has particularly embodied that resurgence is Marcus Rashford, who has scored 21 goals in all competitions so far in what is set to be his best ever season and has been white hot form since returning from the 2022 World Cup.
“In the transition he is very, very dangerous so we need to take care of all of them but especially Rashford," Xavi explained as he addressed the media on Wednesday.
“He's one of the most dangerous players now in Europe.”
On this edition of The Promised Land, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders & Rob Blanchette look ahead to Barcelona vs Man Utd in the Europa League, Casemiro's return, the race to buy the club & more. If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!
The Barça boss also had kind words to say about his opposite number ahead of meeting on the sidelines at Camp Nou.
"Ten Hag is a great coach," he said. "In my mind I believe that somehow [reversing] the situation of United was no easy task and he's accomplishing it.
“They are excited again, the club, the fanbase and also the way they play does a lot. He changes things offensively, defensively, everyone's working very well, so it's a tough rival for us and he's a very interesting coach.”