Erik Ten Hag Excited To Test His Manchester United Players Against Barcelona

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag is excited to test his side against the La Liga leaders Barcelona when they meet in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie on Thursday.

United are in impressive form at the moment, having won 12 and lost just one of their last 15 games, to climb to third in the Premier League.

However, Barcelona are in even better form, having won 14 and drawn one in their last 15 games, which has seen them establish an eight-point lead at the top of La Liga.

“We are both [heading] in the right direction, so I think it’s exciting to face each other tomorrow night because it will help both clubs know where you are,” Ten Hag said at a press conference on Wednesday. “It’s a good test and you get challenged from such a test and you get better.”

“Both clubs are in the Europa League and I think both clubs have the ambition to be in the Champions League and not just be in the Champions League, we want to have a big impact in the Champions League. To go along the group stage, to be [in it] after the winter, go in [the] semi-finals and finals and win even.”

“But the reality is we are in the Europa League and that tells that both clubs needed a reset and I think we are both on the journey.”

Ten Hag knows the size of the task in front of his players at the Camp Nou as Barcelona have only lost once in 21 league games this season, and only conceded seven goals.

“I think Barca is also a very difficult club,” Ten Hag said. “I think Barcelona in this moment is playing its best football since several years, but I think it’s in the mind of the inspiration of Johan Cruyff. You still feel it here and you can see if you see the game of Barcelona, you see the way of play that is the inspiration of Johan Cruyff.”

“It is very clear when you see the stats of Barcelona, it is impressive, I think they defend well but I think their biggest skill is that they have so much possession. That’s why I refer to Johan Cruyff, one of his big sayings was ‘when you have the ball, the opponent doesn’t have the ball and they can’t score.’”

On Thursday Ten Hag will also come up against one of his former Ajax players Frenkie de Jong, who he attempted to sign for United last summer.

“I think we had at Ajax like a class of 2019 that was a team that was with a lot of fascination, and he brings a lot of that fascination and I think he [has] developed in the years after here in Spain. He became even better. He is a fantastic player, playing out for the back, he always has time. It was a pleasure to work with him.”

United will be missing several players in Spain through injury, including Scott McTominay, Antony and Anthony Martial, but Ten Hag is confident they will all be fit again soon.

“It looks good. I think they are on the way back. They are coming back in the training squad. At the end of the week, maybe Scott [McTominay] can begin the training with the team and after the weekend, maybe Antony but we have to see. They are making progress.”

Meanwhile, United will also be without Lisandro Martinez and new loan signing Marcel Sabitzer, who are both suspended for this first leg against Barcelona.

“We have many options in the squad to sort it out and we can use Luke [Shaw] as a full-back and as a centre-back,” said Ten Hag when asked about Martinez’s absence in central defence.

“We saw in the weekend Luke did both very well. But we have in the centre-half position, other good options and they do also well. We can choose by game what we prefer.”