Barcelona squad confirmed
Anthony Martial and Antony have not been named in the Manchester United travelling squad for their trip to face Barcelona in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie. The Manchester Evening News revealed earlier on Wednesday that the duo had both missed the club's open training session ahead of the fixture.
Scott McTominay was also absent from the morning training group and was not named in the 22-man squad that flew to Barcelona later in the day.
Marcel Sabitzer and Lisandro Martinez are both suspended for the tie and were not included in the travelling party for the trip to Barcelona.
However, Casemiro is back involved, with his recent three-match suspension not applying to European competition, though he will miss the weekend match with Leicester in the Premier League.
Ten Hag praises De Jong
Erik ten Hag lauded Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong as a talent who would strengthen any squad in the world.
United agreed an €85million fee with Barcelona to sign De Jong but the midfielder publicly expressed his preference to stay in Catalonia and his wage deferral proved to be an insurmountable stumbling block to a transfer.
After the 4-0 drubbing by Brentford on August 13, United ended their pursuit of De Jong and used the funds set aside for the Dutchman to sign Casemiro from Real Madrid for £60m rising to £70m.
Ten Hag coached De Jong for 18 months at Ajax, who ended their five-year championship drought and were seconds away from reaching the Champions League final in 2019. Barcelona signed De Jong less than two months later in an €85m deal.
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