Marcus Rashford: Solskjaer makes official statement on Man Utd youngster availability ahead of Barcelona clash

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has made an official statement on the youngster Marcus Rashford’s availability ahead of Barcelona clash.

Manchester United will play their first leg of the Champions League Quarterfinals against Barcelona at Old Trafford on Wednesday. The Red Devils remarkably beat Paris Saint Germain the previous round to qualify for the last eight of the competition for the first time in eight years.

Even though they have had success in the European competition, their form in the domestic competitions will cause concern for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who is relishing the prospect of facing the Blaugrana in the last eight of the tournament. The honeymoon period ended for the Norwegian a month ago which is mainly down to the injuries piling up.

More than ten first-team players were sitting on the sidelines when the English outfit were entering the crucial period of the season, forcing the team out of the FA Cup and sit sixth in the Premier League. They have made some recovery in the injury aspect, but the midfield duo Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera will not be in contention for tomorrows game along with Antonio Valencia and Eric Bailly, who were absent from the training sessions on Tuesday.

Despite the injuries to some crucial players in the middle of the park, the offensive duo Alexis Sanchez and Marcus Rashford returned to training on Tuesday. The former has not played a game for more than a month and will not fare in the squad as confirmed by Solskjaer, whereas, the Red Devils continue to sweat on the fitness of their academy graduate Marcus Rashford who trained alone today.

Speaking in the Pre-match press conference, Solskjaer said that he would be hopeful for Rashford’s participation against Barcelona on Wednesday, “We still hope maybe that Nemanja can be ready,” Solskjaer said.

“Ander probably out, but Eric and Antonio definitely out. Marcus needed the extra warm-up and hopefully he won’t get a reaction, he joined parts of it at the end but he couldn’t join the boxes, which is the fun part of training, but let’s see tomorrow. Hopefully he’ll be ready.

“Sanchez? First training session today with the team, he’s done lots of recovery work and is injury-free. He’ll step up and train with the team, probably in the squad for West Ham on Saturday and then let’s see if he plays. But he’s not going to be able to join in tomorrow.” added Solskjaer.

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What’s next?

Manchester United will take on Barcelona on Wednesday and that game will be followed by the Premier League clash on Saturday against the Hammers at Old Trafford.