One interesting thing to track is that Man U are scheduled to play Chelsea two days later on the 22nd. Or, maybe more complicated for them, if they beat Fulham in the quarterfinals, the FA Cup semin final would be on the 22nd, so just 48 hours after playing us. Would’ve been better if it were before the first match, but will, to some degree, be spreading their squad thin.
The coaching staff are clearly not amused with the draw… which is understandable.
However, I at least hope that Sampi and the staff are not ‘scared to death’ of Man Utd and will not deploy cowardly tactics to try and go through, it surely won’t work. We all saw how that fared vs. Barca and Atletico…
Lopetegui didn’t fear Man Utd in 2019-20 and neither did Montella in 2017-18 - we even won in front of 75k fans in Old Trafford. We’ve had more ball possession than Man Utd in the first home CL leg in 2017-18 and in the single tie in the EL semis in 2019-20.
We can do this… the staff and the players just need to believe in it, and leave their hearts on the pitch.
And fans!