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Barcelona vs Manchester United live stream and match preview, Thursday February 16, 5:45pm GMT
Barcelona vs Manchester United live stream and match preview
Looking for a Barcelona (opens in new tab) vs Manchester United (opens in new tab) live stream? We’ve got you covered. Barcelona vs Manchester United is on BT Sport in the UK. Brit abroad? Use a VPN to watch the Europa League with your subscription (opens in new tab) from anywhere.
In the first leg of what is undoubtedly the standout tie of the Europa League knockout round play-offs, Manchester United travel to Barcelona.
With the two clubs boasting eight Champions League / European Cup titles between them and both contesting their domestic leagues’ title races this season, it’s an uncharacteristically heavyweight clash for the second-tier continental competition.
While it’s not where they (or Barca) ultimately want to be, United have reached the final in two of their last three Europa League campaigns, lifting the trophy in 2017 under Jose Mourinho. They finished as group runners-up this time around, albeit only due to their head-to-head record with winners Real Sociedad.
Barca, meanwhile, dropped into the Europa League after crashing out in the Champions League for the second season running. Their European fortunes have contrasted starkly with their domestic exploits this term, though: Xavi’s side have an 11 point lead over arch-rivals Real Madrid at the La Liga summit.
Kick-off is at 5:45pm GMT.
Team news
United boss Erik ten Hag will have to make do without at least seven players. In addition to injured quintet Anthony Martial, Antony, Christian Eriksen, Scott McTominay, and Donny van de Beek – who’s out for the season – Lisandro Martinez and January arrival Marcel Sabitzer are both suspended after picking up three bookings in Europe this term.
Xavi has an almost fully fit Barca contingent to call upon, although his two confirmed injury absentees are both big misses: Ousmane Dembele and skipper Sergio Busquets.
Form
These are two of the most in-form teams in Europe, having failed to win just six times between them since the World Cup.
Barca enter this encounter on an eight-match winning streak in all competitions; they last lost at the end of October, going down 3-0 at home to Bayern Munich – the result which knocked them out of the Champions League.
United, meanwhile, have lost only one of their last 17 games in all competitions (3-2 away to Premier League leaders Arsenal last month) and head to the Camp Nou having won five of their last six, drawing the other.
Referee
Maurizio Mariani of Italy will be the referee for Barcelona vs Manchester United.
Stadium
Barcelona vs Manchester United will be played at the 99,354-capacity Camp Nou in Barcelona.
Kick-off and channel
PSG vs Bayern Munich kick-off is at 5:45pm GMT on Thursday, February 16 in the UK. The game is being shown on BT Sport 2, BTSport.com and the BT Sport app (opens in new tab).
In the US, kick-off time is 12:45pm ET / 9:45am PT. The match will be shown on Paramount+ in the US. See below for international broadcast options.
VPN guide
If you’re out of the country for a Europa League fixture, then you won’t be able to watch on your domestic streaming service as usual. The broadcaster knows where you are because of your IP address (boo!) and blocks you from watching it. You can use a VPN to get around that, though, without resorting to illegal feeds you’ve found on Reddit.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN), assuming it complies with your broadcaster’s T&Cs, creates a private connection between your device and t’internet, meaning the service can’t work out where you are and will let you watch. And all the info going between is entirely encrypted, anonymous and safe – and that’s a result.
There are plenty of good-value options out there. For the Europa League, FourFourTwo currently recommends:
International Premier League TV rights
• UK: Sky Sports (opens in new tab) and BT Sport (opens in new tab) are the two main players once again, but Amazon (opens in new tab) also have a slice of the pie in 2022/23.
• USA: NBC Sports Group are the Premier League rights holders, with the Peacock Premium (opens in new tab) streaming platform showing even more than the 175 games it aired last season. If you pick up a fuboTV subscription (opens in new tab) for the games not on Peacock Premium, you’ll be able to watch every game.
• Canada: The way to watch Premier League football in 2022/23 is fuboTV (opens in new tab), which has exclusive rights to all the action.
• Australia: Optus Sport (opens in new tab) will screen every game of the Premier League season. Non-subscribers can access the action via a Fetch TV box (opens in new tab) and other friendly streaming devices.
• New Zealand: Sky Sport (opens in new tab) are serving up all 380 games – plus various highlights and magazine shows throughout the week, as well as the Champions League.
