Barca looking to make a statement after stodgy Old Trafford performance

Barcelona are in control of their Champions League quarterfinal tie with Manchester United, but their first leg performance was far from inspiring.

Despite being positioned to win a historic treble, Barcelona haven’t exactly had a memorable season. At least not by the standards set by prior versions of this team. Perhaps it’s a function of the weaker challenge faced domestically, during a year when both Madrid teams have regressed, with Real Madrid having one of their worst seasons in recent memory. So far on the European front, Barcelona’s toughest challenge came from Lyon, currently third in Ligue 1, so it’s fair to say Lionel Messi and Co. haven’t exactly been tested so far.

Last week at Old Trafford Barcelona put on a cynical performance — cynical by their own standards, at least — benefitting from yet another moment of brilliance from Messi, who found a wide open Luis Suarez with a cheeky cross over the heads of the United defenders. Perhaps due to this being a more seasoned version of Barcelona, the visitors quickly adopted a conservative, self-serving approach and essentially shut the game down, happy to return to Camp Nou with a 1-0 advantage.  What resulted was a less than convincing win, even if that means sacrificing style in the process.

If there was ever a time to put on a convincing, memorable performance it would be this week against a Manchester United coming off a much-needed win. The fact that Ernesto Valverde decided to rest five key players over the weekend —  Messi, Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic and Gerard Pique — against lowly Huesca is an indication Barcelona will now focus almost exclusively on the Champions League, with yet another domestic title in the bag.

The decision to rest the veteran core of the team may seem like an obvious one in retrospect. Seeing their eternal rivals, Real Madrid, win four of the last five Champions Leagues is probably not sitting well with the Catalans, and so focusing almost exclusively on the Champions League at this point in the season makes a lot of sense.

With the veterans players rested and with Messi looking to exact some justice over the likes of Chris Smalling —  he of this MMA-like attempt to play the ball, which resulted in a black eye and bloody nose for the Barca legend, it’s evident that the blaugrana are taking the return leg extremely seriously. After all, there’s no better time for a statement win showing that the road to the Champions League title goes through Barcelona.

The stage is all set, there are no notable injuries on either side and after seeing a slight dip in form from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men, there may be no better opportunity for the hosts to showcase their ability, prove to the skeptics that they can still win and entertain at the same time.