Not Casemiro nor Varane, the only player praised ahead of Europa League vs Barca

Barcelona and Manchester United meet again for the first time since 2019 in the second tier of European club football, the UEFA Europa League. The two teams last met in the UEFA Champions League where Barcelona got all bragging rights over the two legs.

Fortunately for Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag, has two experienced players that are quite familiar with the Barcelona style following their playing days with Real Madrid in the Spanish League. Raphael Varane and Casemiro were both former El Clasico starters for Real Madrid.

The pair have faced Barcelona on numerous occasions racking up almost 40 combined appearances against the Blaugrana. Casemiro has had a much higher win rate against the Spanish giant with nine wins, four draws, and six losses. Varane on the other hand has seven wins, five draws, and eight losses.

In the recent build presser for the game, Barcelona's manager Xavi Hernandez made some interesting remarks about one of Erik Ten Hag's men.  The Spanish manager dismissed the threat posed by Casemiro and Varane, pointing out that Marcus Rashford is the most in-form and dangerous player in Europe.

What more did he say?

Xavi added that Rashford's very fast and has a huge strength in one vs one with any player at the moment. He completed his remarks by saying that Rashford is one player his team has to take care of in the coming game. Rashford currently has 20 goals this season for Manchester United and is only three goals short of Robert Lewandoski, who is Barca's top scorer this season.