Manchester United will need to make Champions League history if they are to progress to the semi-finals of this year's tournament.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his side have already defied remarkable odds to defeat Paris Saint-Germain and they will need to do it the hard way yet again if they are to continue on their latest European adventure.
United made history in the quarter-finals when they became the first team to overturn a two-goal defeat at home and still manage to progress, and they will need another heroic effort again on Wednesday night.
Supporters will be encouraged by the manner in which United coped against Barcelona in the first-leg encounter, but the stats are stacked against them ahead of the return match.
Barcelona have never lost a home match against United in European competition, with their last such meeting finishing goalless in April 2008.
The Catalan giants have also progressed from 39 of the 41 European ties in which they won the first-leg away from home, with the two exceptions against FC Koln in the 1980-81 Uefa Cup, and against Metz in the 1984-85 Cup Winners’ Cup.
Not only that, but Barcelona are unbeaten in 30 European home games, the longest such run in the competition (W27 D3). They’ve also not conceded more than once in any of those 30 games since a 0-3 loss to Bayern Munich in the 2012-13 semi-finals.
The odds aren't only stacked against United in terms of their opponents but also within the history of the competition. Of the 70 previous occasions a side has won a Champions League knockout tie first-leg away from home, just four have been eliminated. However, two of those instances have been in this season’s competition, and one of which was achieved by United against PSG.
Bring it on.
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