From Zlatan to Pique, eight stars who played for both Man Utd and Barcelona – and how they got on
As Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ernesto Valverde prepare to go to battle in the Champions League, SunSport assesses the careers of those who have played for both
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AS Manchester United prepare to take on Barcelona in their Champions League quarter-final, Gerard Pique and Alexis Sanchez will be desperate to get one over their former employers.
The pair are just two of eight players who have called both the Nou Camp and Old Trafford home during their playing careers. SunSport assesses how they got on...
Mark Hughes (Manchester United 1978-86 and 1988-95, Barcelona 1986-88)
AFTER coming through as a schoolboy at the Cliff, Mark Hughes was offered a pro contract in 1980 but waited three years to make his first-team debut. Ray Wilkins' departure to Milan helped Hughes get his break and he took his chance with both hands.
Barcelona came calling with £2million in 1986 to form an all-British strike partnership with Gary Lineker - but things did not go to plan for the Welshman, scoring just five goals in his first season before being shipped to Bayern Munich on loan.
Two years after leaving Old Trafford, Hughes returned for a club-record fee of £1.8m and it proved a masterstroke from Sir Alex Ferguson.
The striker became the first player to be named PFA Player of the Year twice. He bagged 116 goals in 352 appearances and won two Premier Leagues before joining Chelsea in 1995.
Jordi Cruyff (Barcelona 1988-1996, Manchester United 1996-00)
AS THE son of the legendary Johan, expectations were high when a 14-year-old Jordi Cruyff followed his dad from Ajax to Barca in 1988.
He spent two years with Barcelona B before finally breaking into the first team at the Nou Camp and even set up a goal in their 4-0 win over Manchester United in 1994.
But things did not progress as Cruyff would have wanted and he signed for Manchester United in 1996.
Despite a strong start, injuries plagued his Old Trafford career and he left four years later with 58 appearances and eight goals to his name.
Laurent Blanc (Barcelona 1996-97, Manchester United 2001-03)
LAURENT BLANC succeeded in France during the early years of his career and earned a move to Barcelona after impressing Johan Cruyff. But on the day he signed, Cruyff was sacked and with it went his chances of success at the Nou Camp.
He may have helped win the Supercopa de Espana but injuries and a red card in the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals wrecked his season - and with just a year until his home World Cup, he moved to Marseille.
Blanc spent two years at Marseille and then two at Inter Milan and then signed for long-term admirer Sir Alex Ferguson at the age of 35 to replace Jaap Stam.
He did enough in the 2001/02 season to earn a second season and won the Premier League in his final year as a player.
Gerard Pique (Barcelona 1997-04 and 2008-present, Manchester United 2004-2008)
SEEING pictures of a young Gerard Pique in a Manchester United kit still seems weird, I'm sorry but it does.
Pique joined La Masia as a ten-year-old but opted to move to United for his first pro contract in 2004.
But after four years - including one on loan at Real Zaragoza - and just 12 Premier League appearances, the defender returned home to Catalonia.
He has not looked back and has been a stalwart at the heart of Barca's defence for 11 years, winning 19 major trophies including three Champions Leagues.
Victor Valdes (Barcelona 1995-2014, Manchester United 2015-16)
ANOTHER of the players to come through the famous Barca academy, Valdes broke into the first team in 2002 but had to settle for being Roberto Bonano's understudy until later in the season.
By 2003/04, he was the first-choice goalkeeper and the following year he won the first of his six LaLiga titles.
Valdes won three Champions League titles - beating Arsenal in 2006's final and Manchester United in 2009 and 2011 - with his boyhood club before deciding against renewing his contract beyond the 2013/14 season.
He was set to join Monaco but then got injured and trained with Manchester United to rebuild his fitness, signing an 18-month contract in January 2015 as David De Gea's back-up.
Louis van Gaal claimed Valdes refused to play a reserve game and was subsequently put up for sale just six months after joining. He did not get a squad number for the 2016/17 season and joined Standard Liege on loan in January before signing for Middlesbrough at the end of the season.
Henrik Larsson (Barcelona 2004-06, Manchester United 2007)
HENRIK LARSSON became a Celtic legend with seven stellar years in Scotland and earned a free transfer to Barcelona in 2004, but things did not go according to plan.
Despite Barca winning the league in his first year, Larsson's first season at the Nou Camp was dominated by an ACL injury which limited him to just 17 appearances and four goals - although Barca did opt to give him a one-year extension.
In 2006, he decided to move back to Sweden and returned to Helsingborg. During the Swedish off-season, Larsson signed on loan for United between January and March 2007.
He scored in the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League and Ferguson admitted he would do anything extend the deal.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona 2009-11, Manchester United 2016-18)
ZLATAN, Zlatan, Zlatan. Sweden's other great striker. Zlatan Ibrahimovic bossed defenders during his time at Malmo, Ajax, Juventus and Inter and then he joined Barcelona in 2009 with Samuel Eto'o going the other way as part of the deal.
The big Swede scored in his first five league matches but his relationship with Pep Guardiola collapsed so he joined AC Milan on loan in the summer of 2010 before making the switch permanent a year later.
After success at Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, he finally joined the Premier League as a free agent in 2016 on a reported £200,000 a week.
With him, Zlatan brought his goals, confidence and controversy - he netted 28 goals in his first season before a knee ligament injury ruled him out of the Europa League final win over former club Ajax in Sweden.
Ibrahimovic got back to full fitness and returned for the 2017/18 season but played just seven matches before agreeing to leave Old Trafford. He is now at MLS side LA Galaxy, up to his usual antics banging in acrobatic goals for fun.
Alexis Sanchez (Barcelona 2011-14, Manchester United 2018-present)
CHILEAN forward Alexis Sanchez made a name for himself at Udinese before Pep Guardiola signed him for Barcelona in 2011 on a five-year deal.
Two years later, his audacious chip won El Clasico for Barca and he scored his first hat-trick for the Catalan club later in the 2013/14 season.
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Sanchez joined Arsenal in 2014 but after three-and-a-half years at the Emirates and with six months left on his contract, he joined Manchester United in a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
But to say he has been underwhelming at Old Trafford would be an understatement - the forward has managed just seven goals for the Red Devils.
Hamstring, thigh and knee injuries this season have limited his game time and he is set to miss the two matches against his former club.
