Solskjaer in Camp Nou return as United draw Barca in UCL

PARIS: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United face Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals while Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur clash in an all-Premier League tie following Friday’s draw.

The second leg will take Solskjaer back to the Camp Nou, where in 1999 the Norwegian won United the Champions League by coming off the bench to score a stoppage-time winner against Bayern Munich.

With City and United not allowed to play their home leg in the same week, United will entertain the leaders of La Liga at Old Trafford on April 10, with the return six days later. Barcelona have not lost any of their last 30 home games in the competition, winning all but three of those.

United’s bitter rivals Liverpool will meet FC Porto in the knockout rounds for the second year in succession, while Ajax’s reward for eliminating the holders Real Madrid is a two-legged tie against Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus.

English hopes are high that this could be their year in Europe after all four Premier League representatives made it to the last eight.

The last time England had four teams in the quarter-finals, in 2008/09, Barcelona beat the Old Trafford side 2-0 in the final in Rome. The clubs clashed again in the final at Wembley in 2011, with Barca winning 3-1 on that occasion. Messi scored in both finals.

"We are happy with United," said Guillermo Amor, Barcelona’s director of institutional relations. "We had to be optimistic about all possibilities. They are a good team, a great and important side, but we are in good shape."

UEFA also drew the semi-finals on Friday, meaning the winners of the Barcelona v United tie will face either Liverpool or Porto in the last four. That also means Messi and Ronaldo could only go head to head in the final.

Jurgen Klopp’s side, fresh from knocking out Bayern Munich in the last 16, should be confident of beating the Portuguese champions after defeating them 5-0 on aggregate in the last 16 on their way to the final last season.

Liverpool will host two-time European Cup winners Porto at Anfield on April 9 in the first leg before heading to the Estadio do Dragao in the return on April 17. There is guaranteed to be one English team in the semi-finals after Tottenham and City were paired together, with the first leg to be played in London on April 9 and the return eight days later.