Ahead of Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League match against Spanish Giants, FC Barcelona, Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, made a swift return to his team’s Carrington training complex yesterday morning from Spain.
The Red Devils manager was scouting his side’s Champions League opponents Barcelona on Saturday evening.
United plays the Catalan giants in the quarter-finals of the competition and the sight of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi guiding their side to a 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid would have likely given him cause for concern.
Solskjaer flew back from Barcelona on a private jet which landed at Manchester Airport just after 1am.
The United boss eventually got to Carrington at 8am as he prepares to inform his side of what he made of Barcelona.
The likes of Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, David de Gea arrived shortly after Solskjaer for training.
It did take a while for Ernesto Valverde’s side to break down Atletico, who were down to 10 men for over an hour after Diego Costa was sent off.
Suarez eventually got the breakthrough in the 85th minute before Messi doubled their advantage a minute later.
The victory meant Barcelona moved 11 points clear at the top of La Liga with seven games to play.
This is likely to give a sizeable advantage to the Spanish side going into the second leg knowing they could probably rest a number of key players against Huesca next weekend.
United, on the other hand, face West Ham before the second leg and are still in the midst of an intense battle for the top four in the Premier League.
Former Liverpool man Philippe Coutinho is hoping to knock out his old enemy.
Coutinho told the Sunday Mirror: ‘I know that games against Manchester United are special. I learned what they meant during my time at Liverpool when we lived it so intensely with the fans.
‘I have that nailed in my memory and, even though this is a different stage, if Barcelona knock United out of Europe, it will be a double personal satisfaction for me.’
