Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær has called on several of his attacking stars to lift ahead of the club’s UEFA Champions League tie against Barcelona.

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United will be looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit suffered at Old Trafford last week, where they failed to record a single shot on target for the first time in a European home match since 2005.

Solskjær has pleaded for his front third to fire.

“It’s very important because we need to score goals and if it’s Rom [Romelu Lukaku], Jesse [Lingard], Anthony [Martial], Alexis [Sanchez], Marcus [Rashford], we need big performances,” he said.

“We had a couple of decent chances [in the first leg] but when you can’t work the goalkeeper you can’t score. We know we’ll create chances, we have a goal threat, it’s about taking a deep breath and taking those chances.”

United have scored one goal in five home matches in the Champions League this season – that came via a last-minute Marouane Fellaini winner against Young Boys on matchday 5.

It has been away from home where the Red Devils have done their damage.

On matchday four they came from behind to defeat Juventus 2-1 in Turin.

In the round of 16 they defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 at the Parc des Princes, overturning a two-goal deficit to progress to the quarter-finals.

However, they face perhaps the toughest test of all in Barcelona who have scored 12 goals in four Champions League home matches this season.

United will be boosted by the return of forward Alexis Sanchez as well as midfielder Nemanjia Matic for the second leg, both of whom are expected to start on the bench.

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Damon Palmar
damon@footballnationradio.com