Manchester United unable to land telling blow against Barcelona... but hope still remains of another miracle

Luis Suarez heads the ball back resulting in a Luke Shaw own goal
Luis Suarez heads the ball back resulting in a Luke Shaw own goal Credit: reuters

Lionel Messi received a black eye and a bloodied nose but Manchester United did not lay a glove on Barcelona in the first leg of this Champions League quarter-final.

There was not even a shot on target, never mind a goal, for United who nevertheless go to the Nou Camp for next week’s return leg believing they still have a chance. A puncher’s chance, maybe.

After all, they lost 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain at home in the last round before turning that around so dramatically, although, to be honest, Messi and Co represent a more formidable prospect even if they did not play particularly well here.

The Spanish champions-elect will surely not be as wasteful at home and, while they have not progressed further in the Champions League than the last eight since beating United in the final in 2011, it is now six years and 29 matches since they lost at home in this competition. Going even further back, it is not since 1984 that Barcelona won a first leg 1-0 away from home and went out. And United have to win in Catalonia.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will also go back in time and summon the spirit of 1999 but despite the endeavour against Barcelona, especially in a much-improved second-half, it is now four defeats in five games in all competitions since he was confirmed as United manager.

Lionel Messi picks up a facial injury after a tangle with Chris Smalling in the first half
Lionel Messi picks up a facial injury after a tangle with Chris Smalling in the first half Credit: REX

Fate meant these two sides met a month short of the 20th anniversary of United’s Treble-winning triumph, a campaign that also included two 3-3 draws with Barcelona in the group stage, and of course Solskjaer’s injury-time winning goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final at Camp Nou.

Messi received his facial injuries after being caught in the first-half by the flailing arm of United defender Chris Smalling, his left eye marked and blood dripping from his nose as he was treated.

Smalling had talked about “bringing it on” but United simply did not do enough, although they may feel aggrieved they were not awarded a first-half penalty – it was probably the right call to turn down the claims - while Barcelona’s serial fouler Sergio Busquets was again treated leniently.

United’s best performer was Scott McTominay, and it was a night for the 22-year-old midfielder’s battling qualities. Admirably he was not cowed by the calibre of opposition. It was not a night for the bigger names - Paul Pogba and, in particular, Romelu Lukaku who had the fewest touches on the pitch, just 19 – while Solskjaer’s tactics of starting with a back five simply did not work.

He later conceded that his team looked sloppy and nervous and that, surely, partly stemmed from curiously playing Luke Shaw out of position on the left of a three-man central defence. He looked, and he was, uncomfortable - until a switch was belatedly made - and was booked for a panicky foul on Messi that rules him out of the second leg.

Shaw also scored the only goal; an own goal. It came at the end of a mesmeric, two-minute long passage of play in which every Barcelona player touched the ball, with 48 passes in total, before the final touch came off Shaw. Even then it was confusing as, initially, it was wrongly ruled out for offside before a VAR review overturned the errant flag from the assistant referee and justice was done. United jeers were followed by Barcelona cheers.

The goal owed everything to Messi’s awareness. He is not fully fit, he was fitful, he was far from his best and he received that blow, but it was his clever run that was picked out by Busquets with the forward swivelling to cross and find Luis Suarez who guided a header down. It brushed Shaw’s arm and ended up in the net before Philippe Coutinho could dive in and head it over the goal-line.

Luis Suarez's header squeezes home to give Barcelona a precious away goal
Luis Suarez's header squeezes home to give Barcelona a precious away goal Credit: REUTERS

As 20 minutes passed, Barcelona had claimed 87 per cent possession with three of their players, Ivan Rakitic, Arthur and Jordi Alba, individually completing more passes than the whole United team. Still they were also strangely careless and could have been punished when McTominay ran onto a pass and turned in the area, going over under Gerard Pique’s challenge, but his fall was exaggerated and the Italian referee was unmoved.

Twice United were indebted to David De Gea – or rather De Gea’s legs as the goalkeeper reacted superbly to block from Coutinho’s powerful, low snap-shot, from a Suarez knock-down, and then was alert to beat out Alba’s angled drive that threatened to beat him at his near post.

The best chance, though, fell to Suarez who ran in behind the United defence to collect Nelson Semedo’s pass. The striker found himself clear on goal but slashed at his shot, sending the ball into the side-netting before scratching his head in disbelief. As well he might.

For United, Diogo Dalot also had to do better when he was picked out by Marcus Rashford but headed across goal, instead of testing Marc-Andre ter Stegen, while the Barcelona goalkeeper was fortunate when he punched a clearance straight to Rashford who completely miscued his volley.

And that, in truth, was it. Anthony Martial made a difference when he came on - he has to start the return leg - and broke through only to be denied by the excellent Pique with a well-timed sliding tackle.

United were far better in the second-half, far more positive and aggressive and urgent, but the fact is they have only scored one goal at home in the Champions League this season and this was the first time they have not had a shot on target in this competition since 2005. Still, with evidence, they believe in miracles, not least Solskjaer, and will go to Spain with hope.

                                                                                                    

Full time: Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1

Not so much a footballing exhibition, more of an ordeal for almost everyone involved. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will almost certainly talk up his team's puncher's chance for the away leg next week, but he will have to factor in that Barcelona cannot be as sloppy as they were tonight.

Still, Luis Suarez's squeezed-home, VAR-assisted first-half goal gives Barcelona the clear edge for the return game at the Camp Nou. How spooked they'll be by United's counter-attacking threat will be key to the rest of this tie.

Lionel Messi, wearing that usual confused/annoyed expression, makes his way down the tunnel after a rare 5/10 performance, but he'll be a different proposition on home turf...

90+3 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                            

Barcelona bring on some wide-eyed youngster or other, as Busquets trudges off with a few seconds to go.

90+1 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                           

Three added minutes of Arturo Vidal's massive shorts.

85 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                          

Rashford off, Andreas Pereira on. Smalling booked for flooring Suarez.

82 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                         

Pogab leaves a foot in on Semedo on the edge of the United box and now Barcelona have an interesting position to exploit from the dead ball. Obviously, it's Messi who will take it - once he's tied his laces up - and...he tries to go under the wall! De Gea wasn't entirely fooled, though, and throws himself on the ball.

79 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                        

Barcelona belatedly trying to take the sting out of United's pressing by getting - and keeping - the ball nice and high up the pitch. Suddenly, it's more than 10 minutes since their goal was even remotely threatened.

75 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                       

On comes Jesse Lingard, and Dalot makes way. Barcelona start popping the ball about without a care in the world, which we should remember is their default setting. Lingard gets an immediate - and baffling booking for a "foul" in Vidal.

72 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                      

Vidal, who has been on for about seven minutes, is booked for a kick on Fred - who goes down like a sack of proverbials to ensure the card. Solskjaer summons Jesse Lingard back to the bench to receive some final instructions...

71 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                     

Barcelona give the ball away, and United scythe back through them, only for Vidal to trip Pogba off the ball. Free kick. 30 yards out, Marcus Rashford weighs the situation up...but hammers it waaaaaaay over the bar.

68 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                    

Lukaku barrels down the left channel, accompanied by Pique, before twisting to fire in a low cross that Ter Stegen gets down to first before it can reach Rashford at the back post. United make the change: Lukaku makes way and Anthony Martial is on.

65 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                   

Chance! Nelson Semedo slips in Suarez inside the box but, with the angle narrowing, he lashes the ball into the side netting!

Barcelona make a double change: Arthur and Coutinho off, Arturo Vidal and Sergi Roberto on.

62 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                  

Anthony Martial continues to warm up for United, and he'd be very useful against these sitting, fluorescent ducks of the Barcelona defence. 

59 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                 

United huffing and puffing, but still yet to aim a blow in the direction of Barcelona's house. Fred thumps one into a Barcelona body from 25 yards, before Pogba runs into a cul-de-sac on the edge of the box. Meanwhile, Messi is having - relatively speaking - a nightmare tonight. Fouls, going to ground too easily, wayward passes, the lot. He also has an assist.

56 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1                

Barcelona are being pinned back, oddly unable to protect the ball when they get it, but United are still yet to show they have the coolness to make it count when they get into the final third. A Rashford flick to nobody in particular confirms that.

53 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1               

Ashley Young bends in a cross, Ter Stegen gets a fist on it, the ball falls nicely for Rashford to volley....well wide. It came off the top of his shin in the end, but Old Trafford sound encouraged by the start to this second half.

50 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1              

Pique heads a United corner away, before Fred lets the air out of this spell of pressure by passing the ball straight out of play. Coutinho tries to squeeze between two United bodies in midfield and is fouled. Yep, this is still untidy.

47 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1             

United press immediately. Ter Stegen casually clips the ball out towards Clement Lenglet, who can only nod it out of play under more pressure. That brings manager Ernesto Valverde out of his seat, but Barcelona's feathers aren't too ruffled yet.

We go again.

No changes to either side at the break, and we can but hope for a tidier second half - the first 45 was a little scrappy.

Half time: Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1

Barcelona lead, but they are no longer in control of this game. Solskjaer's gameplan has taken its time - and an away goal - to get going, but there are succeeding in one objective: frustrating a team who are used to getting their own way.

Luke Shaw's booking will mean he needs to focus on this leg rather than dwell on missing the second, but otherwise United are not in a terrible place here...

45+1 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1             

Two added minutes before half-time.

44 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1            

Barcelona try to fijnd some peace and quiet with the ball, but United continue to chase from the front - how long they can keep that going might be key to the rest of this tie, let alone this leg. Barca's share of the ball is down to a modest 66% anyway...

40 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1           

Solskjaer marches down to the edge of his technical area, from that red-brick terrace for the first time to assess the situation. That appears to have an immediate effect, because Rashford whips in a superb cross to the back post for...Diogo Dalot, who heads rather cluelessly back across goal with Ter Stegen in all sorts of bother!

36 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1          

Save! David De Gea's feet to the rescue, as is so often the case for United. Coutinho ghosts into some space in the box and pokes the ball goalwards, but De Gea gets his left boot in the way and plenty of distance on it too. Moments later, Busquets steps into Pogba and the crowd are baying for a red card...but the referee stands firm.

33 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1         

United building up some steam and making Barcelona work for once. Messi, now back on the field and looking very annoyed, catches Fred.

29 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1        

Mild drama! Lionel Messi goes down after getting an absolute belter to the head from Chris Smalling - there's blood everywhere - before McTominay goes down under a Pique challenge in the box! No penalty, says the referee. Messi is now getting patched up.

27 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1       

Pogba tries something expansive to get United going, clipping a deep ball in towards Lukaku from the left, but it's too high for the big man, who applauds the intent anyway. Solskjaer's hope of United dominating the ball and giving Barcelona something to worry about is looking a forlorn one here.

24 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1      

Passes after 25 minutes

This is where the ball's been going in the first quarter of this game. Barcelona have had 83% of the ball so far. Crikey.

20 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1     

Yellow for Luke Shaw! And he'll miss the second leg at the Nou Camp after pulling back Messi out wide. Barcelona try and be cute with their free kick but they lose the ball in the middle and allow United to leap out on the counter...but Young overhits his cross.

18 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1    

Yellow for Busquets! The referee's patience snaps after a poor backpass forces the Barcelona anchor into grappling Paul Pogba to the ground - stonewall booking. Fred fancies a go at this set-piece, it seems, but he whips the ball straight into the fluorescent wall.

GOAL! Man Utd 0 Barcelona 1 (Suarez, 12 min)

GOOOAAA-no! Barcelona - and Luis Suarez - think they have the lead, but the assistant's flag intervenes! The referee consults VAR, which confirms Suarez was a yard onside as he nodded the ball back across goal and in off Luke Shaw's body! Barcelona do lead!

10 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 0   

Rashford's pace briefly worries Gerard Pique in a one-on-one but a 10-yard headstart is enough for the former United man to scuttle the ball safely back to Ter Stegen. Barcelona respond with some benign halfway-line passing, which Solskjaer won't mind.

7 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 0  

Messi drops deep to try and conduct some early Barcelona pressure, but Suarez's back is turned as the ball is floated in his direction. At the other end, Rashford springs the Barca offside trap, but Marc-Andre ter Stegen is out quickly to sweep up the danger!

4 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 0 

Sergio Busquets goes in high in a desperate attempt to stop Scott McTominay and, despite him escaping a yellow card, United have a promising position 30 yards from goal. Marcus Rashford fancies it...and he thumps one just high and wide! Lovely connection, but an element of hit and hope.

Ashley Young is next to fly into a tackle, catching Coutino - the referee widely gestures that he won't tolerate another.

2 min - Man Utd 0 Barcelona 0

Early corner for Barcelona which they inevitably play short and keep in the corner to try and draw United out of their defensive shell. That doesn't happen, so back the ball goes to start over.

Kick off!

Barcelona, in their top-to-toe change colours of Matchday Steward Yellow, get the action started at Old Trafford...

Players are out...

...we're almost good to go. Should be fun.

Ole's pre-match words:

"We need to improve on the first leg [against PSG]. It's down to us to try and dominate the game. If we let them dominate, we're in for a hard night.

Rashford is fine, he's been ill as well, but hopefully he'll last as long as he can...he lives for nights like this. 

It's a similar team to [the away leg vs PSG] but I'm confident we'll do well. We've shown we can come back from bad results but hopefully we'll take a great result over there."

There's hope yet...

Suarez is 32 now and not ageing quite as gracefully as Messi: those electric bursts have lost their edge, but the man can still finish. He'll get a delightful reception at Old Trafford, of course.

'Bring it on'

There was something slightly Ed Miliband-ish ("Hell yeah I'm tough enough!") about Chris Smalling looking forward to the challenge of chasing Messi's shadow tonight.

“It's something to relish, this season I've been lucky enough to face Ronaldo, Mbappe, they're all challenges I relish and the players relish,” Smalling said. “I say bring it on.”

Unfortunately, Barcelona's social media department feel the same:

'I ended up watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger film'

Speaking of that 1991 final, James Ducker spoke exclusively to Clayton Blackmore, a member of that winning team:

“Obviously it was a very big game for Mark [Hughes],” Blackmore explained. “He had his own personal mission to get one over Barcelona because he never got treated well there.

“Anyway, he’s back in his room about six hours before kick-off for his siesta but I’m the opposite to him, I could never sleep the day of the game. So Sparky’s in bed and I’m there, wide awake, wondering what to do. I ended up watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger film - Commando it was - and I’ve got the volume up because I can’t hear what they’re saying and then suddenly all the guns start firing and the noise... it’s fair to say he didn’t get his siesta. And, yeah, he was grumpy!”

Manchester United striker Mark Hughes celebrates with the trophy Credit: DAVID CANNON

It did not work out too badly for Hughes in the end, though. His brace swept United to a 2-1 victory in what was the first season back in Europe for English clubs after a five-year ban in the wake of the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985, when 39 people were killed at the European Cup final between Juventus and Liverpool.

Retro Corner, Pt. 3

May, 1991: United go to Rotterdam to face the following year's European champions in the Cup Winners' Cup final, and Mark Hughes deals with an acute angle in a way that only Mark Hughes would:

Streetwise

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants his United side to have their wits about them tonight, after PSG led them a merry dance over two legs in the last round before VAR had its say...

“The players have talked about it - how we got dragged into making fouls, how European football is. You’ve got to be more patient in tackles. Some of these Barcelona players will have some tricks up their sleeves, streetwise players. We’ve learned from that game.

“We know we can’t give fouls away. How many goals has Messi scored from free-kicks just outside the box? So, of course, we’ve got to be careful and the referees can’t buy little things.

“We weren’t lucky with the ref against PSG where they should have had a man [Presnel Kimpembe] sent off in the first leg, so we hope for some luck there as well.”

Retro Corner, Pt. 2

April, 2008: Frank Rijkaard's erratic but evolving Barcelona rock up at Old Trafford for the Champions League semi-finals, only to be sent packing by a Paul Scholes masterpiece. I think this footage from the upper tier does it justice...

Team news!

United hand starts to Diogo Dalot, Scott McTominay and Fred! And Marcus Rashford is fit enough to make it, too.

No surprises in the Barcelona lineup...

Retro Corner, Pt. 1

November, 1998: a perfect case study of United's caution-to-the-wind approach that season, and a thrilling 3-3 draw against Barca at Old Trafford. The pick of that bunch? An impeccably Beckhamian free kick from David Beckham...

Lionel Messi vs the iPhone

As one landscape-altering, pocket-sized entertainment phenomenon has started to plateau, another has found a way to keep ascending. Please, bear with me here

There was some delightful symmetry to their unstoppable rise: as Apple hoovered up 73 per cent of the smartphone industry’s profits in 2012, Messi was on his way to his unfathomable 73-goal haul in the 2011/12 season. By the time the iPhone had got round to accommodating a front-facing camera in 2010, Messi had already made a new home for himself in the defence-confounding false nine position, from which his vision and eye-of-the-needle forward passes allowed assists to flow almost as freely as goals.

Discerning Messi’s peak is not an easy task, and certainly not as straightforward as consulting his goalscoring charts. He will never again achieve the startling numbers of 2011/12, but his longevity (not just playing, but playing to such a stratospheric standard) owes much to the fine-tuning of other elements of his game.

Lionel Messi's unrelenting brilliance has seemingly outlasted even the iPhone

Compared to the twisting ball of perpetual motion they faced in the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011, Manchester United will face the more calculated 2019-edition Messi at Old Trafford on Wednesday night. While Apple are now struggling to find new boundaries to push (quite literally, since 2017’s iPhone X went full-screen and ditched the oddly comforting home button) Messi has begun to specialise.

He has scored seven times from free-kicks this season, equalling his own record with a possible 13 more games to play across three competitions. For the third consecutive season, Messi scored from a set-piece in three successive games. He has scored 20 times from dead-ball situations in the last five seasons (his nearest rival in Europe's top five leagues, Miralem Pjanic of Juventus, has 11). 

I ❤ the 90s

Manchester United vs Barcelona? Ajax vs Juventus?! Crack out the Tab Clear, fire up the Sega Mega Drive, actually be able to grasp the concept of affording your own home one day: it's the 1990s all over again!

Unfortunately for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it's looking more 1994 than 1999 tonight: where there was once Romario, there is now Lionel Messi. Where there was once David May, there is now Chris Smalling. In summary, Barcelona - aiming for the treble - should be too good for Solskjaer's stuttering medium-term rebuilding project.

Romario in action against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 1994 Credit: GETTY IMAGES

Then again, so should PSG have been. In fact, for about 179 minutes out of 180 over the two legs of the last 16, they were. But, where the 1990s had the three-foreigners rule, the tail-end of the 2010s has VAR. This time, United weren't the ones being screwed over.

So here they are, semi-uninvited but here nonetheless, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Ole is now permanently at the wheel, but is this the end of the road for United's season?

Maybe not. Barcelona have scored 121 goals this season (so, what's new?) and have lost only four games, but their starting lineup doesn't fill you with quite as much dread as some of its vintage predecessors of the last decade. Perhaps its just a very English thing to think they can be "got at", but...maybe they can.

Team news - or rather, Lionel Messi-and-21-others news - on the way just before 7pm.

License this content