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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Nathan Bliss

The positions where Manchester United are BETTER than Barcelona

Manchester United travel to Barcelona ahead of their Champions League quarter-final second leg clash on Tuesday night, hoping for a repeat of their 1999 miracle comeback.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side go in to the game 1-0 behind on aggregate, which is the same scoreline that United came back from 20 years ago to lift the European Cup, with the current boss scoring the famous 93rd minute winner.

On paper, Barcelona look to have the better squad, but what about individually?

How do the the individual players compare? And in which positions are United stronger than Barcelona?

We used FIFA 19 to find out.

Manchester United vs Barcelona - Squad Comparison

To find out, we used FIFA 19 to rank the best player in each position for either side, comparing both their current ability and their potential ability.

GK: David De Gea vs Marc-Andre ter Stegen

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 91 vs 89

Potential ability: 93 vs 92

Ter Stegen may be an excellent goalkeeper, but he's still not as good as De Gea and according to FIFA 19, he never will be.

Manchester United 1-0 Barcelona

RB: Ashley Young vs Sergi Roberto

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 79 vs 83

Potential ability: 79 vs 84

Young is a solid makeshift right-back and has been doing a good job for United this season, but Roberto is rated much higher and has better potential too.

Manchester United 1-1 Barcelona

CB: Chris Smalling vs Gerard Pique

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 80 vs 88

Potential ability: 80 vs 88

There is simply no comparison here.

World Cup, European Championship and Champions League winner Pique is unsurprisingly rated higher than Smalling on FIFA 19.

Manchester United 1-2 Barcelona

CB: Victor Lindelof vs Samuel Umtiti

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 81 vs 87

Potential ability: 87 vs 92

Lindelof's 87 potential is very good and could see him become as good as Umtiti is now, but the Frenchman's potential far exceeds that of the Swedish defender.

Manchester United 1-3 Barcelona

LB: Luke Shaw vs Jordi Alba

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 81 vs 87

Potential ability: 85 vs 87

Shaw still has excellent potential, but he will never reach the ability of Alba, according to FIFA 19.

Manchester United 1-4 Barcelona

CDM: Nemanja Matic vs Sergio Busquets

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 83 vs 89

Potential ability: 83 vs 89

Matic is a very good option in defensive midfield, but Busquets is a world-class option in the position and is far better than the Serbian according to FIFA 19.

Manchester United 1-5 Barcelona

CM: Paul Pogba vs Ivan Rakitic

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 88 vs 87

Potential ability: 91 vs 87

Rakitic is one of the world's best midfielders, but even he can't compete with Pogba's current or potential ability.

The Frenchman's potential is incredible.

Manchester United 2-5 Barcelona

CM: Ander Herrera vs Arturo Vidal

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 82 vs 85

Potential ability: 82 vs 85

Herrera has been in great form for United in recent weeks, but Chilean midfielder Vidal just edges him in terms of ability on FIFA 19.

Manchester United 2-6 Barcelona

LW: Anthony Martial vs Philippe Coutinho

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 84 vs 87

Potential ability: 90 vs 88

Coutinho is the best of the two players right now, according to FIFA 19, but Martial's great potential could see him surpass the Brazilian over the next few years.

Manchester United 3-6 Barcelona

RW: Marcus Rashford vs Lionel Messi

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 83 vs 94

Potential ability: 90 vs 94

Rashford is one of the best youngsters in world football and has incredible potential.

But Messi is one of the greatest players to ever play the game. Enough said.

Manchester United 3-7 Barcelona

ST: Romelu Lukaku vs Luis Suarez

(Getty Images 2019)

Current ability: 86 vs 91

Potential ability: 88 vs 91

Lukaku is very, very good striker, but Suarez is world-class in his position and according to FIFA 19, the Belgian will never get near the former Liverpool player's level.

Overall score: Manchester United 3-8 Barcelona

Barcelona clearly have a better squad than Manchester United, according to FIFA 19, but there are three positions where United have the upper hand over the Spanish giants, with De Gea, Martial and Pogba showing that Solskjaer has the players to cause problems for Barcelona on Tuesday evening.

But will that be enough for United to go through?

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