It's a clash befitting a Champions League final, yet Barcelona and Manchester United will tussle twice over the next nine days just for the right to play in the last 16 of the Europa League.
A result of United's dreadful 2021-22 season and Barca's surprising failure to get out of their Champions League group means two giants of the European game find themselves in UEFA's second-tier competition.
While that might suggest a hint of both being fallen giants, these two teams are enjoying largely promising seasons, with Thursday's first leg at Camp Nou undeniably intriguing.
Barca are on course to win LaLiga for the first time since 2019, while United have made significant strides forward following the beginning of a rebuild with new manager Erik ten Hag. A Premier League title challenge could yet come to fruition.
But the Europa League is where their attention turns now, and United's bid to reclaim the title they won in 2017 – the last trophy they lifted, in fact – has them facing arguably the toughest possible challenge straight away.
The absence of Lisandro Martinez for the first leg due to suspension will be a huge source of frustration for Ten Hag, which highlights just how effective the Argentinian has been in his first few months at the club.
United prepare to suffer
Xavi's spell in charge of Barcelona to this point has been a little difficult to draw conclusions from. That's not just what critics think; there are also many, many supporters who remain uncertain.
They routinely win games without playing particularly spectacular football, and that's essentially the crux of both sides of the debate. Some fans may not be enamoured with the brand of football, but Xavi is getting results.
Since the start of the first LaLiga matchday with Xavi at the helm, Barcelona have amassed 112 points in 47 games – Real Madrid, who've played a match less, have taken 104. That's the same Real Madrid who won a league and Champions League double last year.
Now, he has Barca well on track to win the title this season. Even if they perhaps don't have the same entertainment value as Pep Guardiola's vintage Barcelona, Xavi deserves recognition for the transformation he's overseen, part of which is shown in their work rate.
They are tireless.
Former Barca coach Quique Setien, now at Villarreal, highlighted this after his team were beaten 1-0 by them at the weekend.
"There is something that this Barca has changed a lot, which is without the ball," he said. "The data is there: Barca is the team that runs the most without the ball. Seems surprising, doesn't it? Robert Lewandowski is the first defender."
How does this translate into output? Well, their 210 high turnovers is second only to Athletic Bilbao (223) in LaLiga, while Athletic and Atletico Madrid (35 each) are the only two teams to convert such situations into shooting opportunities more often than Barca (32).
Barca's 324 pressed sequences is bettered by just Athletic (330) and Rayo Vallecano (328), though Xavi's side allow their opposition on average only 8.8 passes before a defensive action. This is a low for LaLiga.
Altogether, these metrics highlight just how hard Barca work to get the ball back when they don't have it, and as such it brings into focus the kind of defensive pressure their opponents' centre-backs are put under.
The centre-back playmaker
That is, of course, where Martinez becomes relevant. Obviously his presence would likely be felt even if Barca didn't press with such intensity, as he's arguably been United's most consistent and impressive defender this season purely from a 'putting-your-body-on-the-line-and-battling-for-the-cause' perspective.
Yet, it's his ability on the ball that makes him key for Ten Hag.
Martinez's importance to United in this respect was as evident as ever during the weekend win at Leeds United. Until his 61st-minute introduction, Ten Hag's men had struggled desperately with their hosts' intensity.
Leeds were ferocious in their pressing, and although left-back Luke Shaw generally did fine in Martinez's place at centre-back, United instantly looked like they had more time on the ball once those two were in their rightful positions.
Martinez was dropping his shoulder to evade attackers, pinging long cross-field passes out to the right. Granted, you could make the case Leeds were tiring, and that's potentially a valid argument, but Martinez's performance wasn't surprising. It's just how he's played ever since making the move from Ajax.
Although he only came on with 29 minutes left, Martinez's 35 passes was only bettered by five of his team-mates and no one on the pitch (minimum three passes) had a better completion rate (85.7 per cent).
His ability on the ball makes Martinez effective at helping United resist pressure. He has lost possession 173 times in the Premier League this season, but that is just 12.3 per cent of his total touches. Only 11 centre-backs (minimum 15 appearances) have lost the ball less frequently.
This is despite his passing being positive and forward-thinking in nature, which is evidenced by the fact only Arsenal's William Saliba (22) has initiated more shot-ending sequences than Martinez (16) in the Premier League this term.
United now go into arguably their biggest game of the season – until next week's EFL Cup final – without him, a match where his strengths will have possibly been more useful than any previous fixture.
But if there's one positive, the need to highlight his importance makes a mockery of those who rushed to write Martinez off at the start of the season.
Villa draw buys Ten Hag a little time, says Neville
Gary Neville believes Manchester United bought Erik ten Hag time with their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa, but is not sure how much.
United are winless in their last five games in all competitions, with their stalemate at Villa Park the fourth draw in that run, having also lost 3-0 to Tottenham in their last home match.
Ten Hag's side have won just three of their opening 10 matches in all competitions, while their eight points in the league cements their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.
Only 19th-place Southampton (four) have netted fewer goals than United (five) in the competition so far, while only in 1972-73 (four) have the Red Devils ever netted fewer in their first seven matches of a top-flight campaign.
Against a Villa side who beat Bayern Munich in their last outing before this meeting, a draw could be seen as a good result, but Neville believes that shows the "low bar" the team is currently working with.
"It's a small step forward," Neville told Sky Sports. "Before the game, if you offered any Man Utd fan, player or coach a draw, then they would have snapped your hand off.
"That's where, at the end of the game, when you see Erik ten Hag's interview, there's an element of relief because it keeps the wolves at bay for a couple of weeks at least. It gives them a little bit more time.
"I don't think anybody who thought a major incident would happen after the game thought it would happen with a draw. They always thought it would need to be a difficult day or difficult defeat like it was last week against Tottenham. I think it buys Ten Hag a little bit of time.
"It's Manchester United's worst start in Premier League history so we can't celebrate. When we're thinking it's a decent point when you draw at Villa, it tells you how far Villa have come - but it also tells you how low the bar is for United in this moment in time."
Ten Hag, who signed a new contract in the off-season, continues to insist that he has the backing of the club's hierarchy despite the less-than-stellar start to the campaign.
However, the pressure is starting to pile on the manager once more, with United failing to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under the Dutchman (also a run of three in both December 2023 and April 2023).
While Neville does not think the club will rush into a decision on Ten Hag's future, he admits they might have to if things have not changed by the November international break.
"The club did make the decision to keep Ten Hag in the summer, so they won't want to reverse that decision within the first six or seven games," Neville added.
"They have just got to hope [something happens] in this next couple of weeks - through maybe a reset, some thinking time, some planning.
"Manchester United fans, coaches, players have talked about this new structure that surrounds Ten Hag, it needs to go to work quite quickly in the next few weeks.
"If the next international break comes around and Manchester United are still in that 13th, 14th position in the league, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure.
"The next few weeks are critical in making sure they can somehow get some momentum for the rest of the season so that Ten Hag can keep his job."
Real Sociedad 1-1 Atletico Madrid: Sucic stunner salvages point for hosts
Luka Sucic scored a stunning late equaliser to ensure Real Sociedad held Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 home draw in LaLiga on Sunday.
Atletico had taken an early lead, Antoine Griezmann bringing down a lofted ball before setting up Julian Alvarez with a delightful backheel, and the Argentine scored after just 51 seconds.
Jan Oblak then made a string of fine saves, including a double stop against Martin Zubimendi and Nayef Aguerd, as the hosts dominated possession.
Eventually La Real's pressure paid off and there was nothing the goalkeeper could do as Sucic's superb first-time shot from distance sailed over him and into the top corner in the 84th minute.
Atletico moved one place up to third on 17 points, four points behind second-placed Real Madrid and seven off leaders Barcelona. Sociedad are 15th with nine points.
Data Debrief: Quick off the mark
To salvage a point against Real Madrid last weekend, Atletico left it late, not scoring until the 95th minute to claim a point.
This time out, however, Alvarez scored the club's fifth-fastest goal in LaLiga in the 21st century (51 seconds), and the fastest since February 2018 when Griezmann netted in 38 seconds against Malaga.
Instead, it was La Real who left it late, with just their seventh goal of the season. It is their worst scoring record at this stage of a LaLiga campaign since 2006-07 (five), the campaign of their last relegation to the second division.
Nice 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain: Mendes rescues points to keep visitors unbeaten
Paris-Saint-Germain missed out on the chance to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1, with Nuno Mendes saving a point in a dramatic 1-1 draw at Nice on Sunday.
Nice started brightly and caused havoc as PSG struggled to find their rhythm in the early stages. Ali Al-Abdi soon took advantage of their visitors' lacklustre start, opening the scoring six minutes before half-time with a powerful strike from a corner.
Ousmane Dembele, who was dropped in midweek for the Champions League, orchestrated their equaliser, picking out Mendes, whose deflected shot beat the keeper to hit the back of the net seven minutes after the break.
They almost had a second moments later, Marquinhos rising high to meet Lee Kang-in's cross, only to see his powerful header rebound off the post.
Nice held firm despite the late pressure from PSG as goalkeeper Marcin Bulka kept out good efforts by Vitinha and Dembele.
It leaves PSG two points behind leaders Monaco heading into the international break.
Data Debrief: PSG's total dominance does not come to fruition
It has been a fairly disappointing week for PSG, who suffered a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League, and failed to re-close the gap to Monaco at the top of the league by dropping points.
They had 19 shots against Nice, with 14 of those coming in a dominant second half. Seven of those after the break were on target, while Gianluigi Donnarumma did not face a single effort at the other end.
However, they only managed 0.97 expected goals (xG) - Mendes' goal came from a strike worth just 0.05 - and they could not find a late winner despite their best efforts.
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