Ole Gunnar Solskjaer warns his Manchester United stars about Barcelona’s ‘tricks’

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has warned his Manchester United players to beware of Barcelona’s ‘tricks’ when the two clubs clash in the Champions League quarter-finals at Old Trafford.

United host Barca in the first leg on Wednesday night and Solskjaer is concerned that his side – and Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi – are not duped into giving away cheap free-kicks and yellow cards that could prove costly.

As well as Lionel Messi, the Spaniards also have former Liverpool stars Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho in their ranks. United have four players who are one booking away from a European suspension – Luke Shaw, Ashley Young, Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera – although Matic is doubtful and Herrera is likely to miss out through injury.

Manchester United’s players train ahead of their Champions League quarter-final first-leg

Solskjaer has told his players to learn from the first leg of their last 16 tie at home to PSG when he felt United were over-confident and careless, leading to a 2-0 defeat that was then overturned by a stunning comeback in Paris.

‘Confidence is high,’ said Solskjaer. ‘The result of what we did against PSG and how we climbed the table and clawing back points, the players have given themselves and supporters great belief we can do this.

‘I can feel the tension, excitement, in training today and yesterday the players wanting to play. The mood before the PSG home game was a little bit different but we’ve learnt from that game.

‘The players have talked about it, how we got dragged into making fouls. You’ve got to be more patient in tackles. Some of these players will have some tricks up their sleeves. There are some streetwise players.

‘Suarez and Coutinho and Messi will keep our defenders on our toes so let’s see how we manage tomorrow.’

In particular, Solskjaer is worried about Messi’s threat if United concede free-kicks around their own penalty box. 

Messi celebrates after scoring late on against La Liga title rivals Atletico Madrid last Saturday

‘How many goals has Messi scored from free-kicks outside the box?’ said the United boss. ‘We weren’t lucky with the referee against PSG where they should have had a man sent off, so we hope for some luck there as well.

‘What kind of plan can you have to stop one of the best players in the world? We’ve played against Juventus and (Cristiano) Ronaldo, PSG and (Kylian) Mbappe, Chelsea and (Eden) Hazard.

‘He (Messi) a fantastic player and will go down in the history as one of the best individual players ever. He will be difficult to stop but never impossible. It’s not like it’s Messi against Man United. It’s Suarez, Coutinho, Rakitic, Vidal. We cannot just focus on one player, we have to focus against 11 of them.’