Owen Hargreaves has urged Erik ten Hag to start Alejandro Garnacho in the second leg of Manchester United's Europa League tie against Barcelona.
Garnacho, 18, came off the bench during the first leg of the play-off clash at the Camp Nou on Thursday, which ended in a 2-2 draw. The two European heavyweights will meet again at Old Trafford next Thursday, with a place in the last 16 at stake.
Ex-United midfielder Hargreaves believes Barcelona were vulnerable in the transitions and has backed Garnacho to take advantage of that at Old Trafford. The teenager is enjoying a breakthrough season with United - scoring three goals and providing five assists.
"I don’t think they [Barcelona] controlled the game," Hargreaves told BT Sport at full-time. "And that is a big thing for Xavi and Barcelona.
"It felt like in the transitions they were too vulnerable, they were too open. And it feels like there will be more of those situations at Old Trafford if they are going to play that way. Maybe Garnacho plays, I think he will be perfect in that."
Barcelona took the lead at the Camp Nou thanks to Marcos Alonso's second-half header before Marcus Rashford scored his 22nd goal of the season. Rashford then forced Jules Kounde into an own goal, but Raphinha's late strike salvaged a draw for the hosts.
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Ten Hag shocked fans by deploying Wout Weghorst in a deeper role and playing Bruno Fernandes on the wing. Hargreaves added: "It was quite a surprise actually, Marcus playing through the middle and Weghorst playing as a No.10 and Bruno on the right.
"Maybe he [Ten Hag] plays it slightly different. But it just feels like in the transition, Barcelona weren’t there and at Old Trafford, United will get good chances."
Garnacho joined United from Atletico Madrid in October 2020 and helped them win the FA Youth Cup last season before breaking into Ten Hag's squad. The Argentina U20 international's impressive form has led to many top clubs taking an interest in him.
Garnacho scored a brilliant goal in United's 2-0 win against Leeds last week but has just 17 months left on his current deal. The club do have an option to automatically extend his contract by a further 12 months, but they would like to tie him down for longer.
Explaining his decision to play Weghorst as a No.10, Ten Hag told BT Sport: "I think it worked tonight. Wout did well in that position, which I know he can do. It gave us variation with Jadon [Sancho] and Bruno coming into the half spaces and getting on the ball and the full-backs joining it. We had a lot of variation and a lot of opportunities.”
If they beat Barcelona, United will be viewed as one of the favourites to win this season's Europa League. Other candidates include Feyenoord, Real Sociedad, Sevilla, Roma, Monaco, Ajax, Juventus, Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal - United's Premier League rivals.
