Manchester United interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claims he felt ‘it had to be’ Barcelona for his side to face in the Champions League.
“Yes, it had to be [Barcelona]!” the Norwegian told MUTV. “I’ve had so many texts from friends saying this year is going to be the year that we’ll get through because of my number, 20, and it being 20 years ago. We’re off to the Nou Camp again!”
Wait until Barcelona smash United, then beats Liverpool in the semis and then destroy City in the final. Then you will need to have 8 English teams in the quarterfinals next year 🤪May be they can win something— Kalle Borkamo (@KBorkamo) March 15, 2019
Ole was referring to his perhaps most famous goal scored at the Camp Nou in the Champions League 1999 final against Bayern Munich in the stoppage time. The win sealed the Treble for Alex Ferguson’s side.
“It was the biggest night I’ve had in football. Of course, for all of us in that team, it was an unbelievable night,” Solskjaer added. “It’s a great stadium… and, of course, we met them [Barcelona] in the group stages as well that year – 3-3 each both home and away. It’ll be a good game.
“We want these games against the biggest clubs and the biggest teams. We had the finals against them in 2009 and 2011 and the semi-final in 2008 when Scholesy [Paul Scholes] scored, and it’s those games that our supporters and this club crave. We are looking forward to this one.”
United will host Barcelona at Old Trafford on Wednesday 10 April and then travel to Barcelona on Tuesday 16 April. The winner will face either Liverpool or Porto.