Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said that he won’t mention the 1999 Champions League final during his team talks before Manchester United’s crucial Champions League game against Barcelona at Camp Nou tomorrow night.
Camp Nou was the stadium where Solskjaer made himself immortal in Manchester United folklore. In the 1999 Champions League final, Manchester United were on the brink of defeat against Bayern Munich who were leading thanks to a goal from Mario Basler.
However, two goals from Teddy Sheringham and Solskjaer in the dying minutes of the match won them the Champions League and a historic treble.
Manchester United travel to Barcelona to play a do or die second leg. They already lost 1-0 at home so they will need to produce a unique performance against the Blaugrana tomorrow. Manchester United did script a massive comeback against PSG at Paris in the last 16 but Barcelona are a much tough opponent.
Solskjaer said that he instead of mentioning the 1999 final, he will mention Manchester United’s away wins against Juventus and PSG this season. The Norwegian said, “No I won’t (mention the 1999 win) because it was against Bayern Munich. It was a final, it was different. We will use the PSG match, we will use Juventus away, we have beaten some good teams away from home this year and played against some great players.
We had (Barcelona) flustered at times here as well. Yes, they controlled the game towards the end, they had the possession but they never really bothered us in our own half.”
Solskjaer believes that Manchester United have the kind of players capable of pulling off an upset at Camp Nou. He said, “You look at the quality of those players and that gives us a threat, we carry a goal threat. Of course what we did against PSG as a team must give everyone a huge confidence boost because that experience was probably the best they have had for many years, those players.
They are probably dreaming about another one of them again at the Nou Camp.”
After tomorrow’s match against Barcelona, Manchester United play Everton at Goodison Park next Sunday.
