Barcelona claimed a crucial away goal at Old Trafford, the hosts got off to the worst possible start after Luke Shaw inadvertently turned in Luis Suarez's header, before the goal was originally flagged for being offside but after intervention from VAR, the goal was awarded. Lionel Messi was left with a bloodied nose during the first half after a coming together with Chris Smalling, as United failed to register a single shot on target all night despite some suspected defending from the visitors.
The night ended as it had started, with the ball on the end of a length of Barcelona string.
Yellow shirt to yellow shirt to yellow shirt. On and on and on as Manchester United’s players hustled backwards and sideways more in hope than expectation of ever becoming involved.
It can be like that against Barcelona and United have suffered before. The ‘Barcelona carousel’ was what Sir Alex Ferguson called it at the start of the decade and few have ever described it as perfectly. If United don’t get a foothold early in the Nou Camp next week then it could be a while before their heads stop spinning.
The Uruguayan striker managed to get on to the end of a Lionel Messi cross to head the ball back across the face of goal
Suarez's header then brushed off Shaw and into the United net giving the visitors an early lead at Old Trafford
The goal was originally ruled out as the linesman believes Suarez (left) was standing in an offside position at the back post
The goal was originally ruled out as the linesman believes Suarez (left) was standing in an offside position at the back post
However, after a check from VAR, referee Gianluca Rocchi correctly overturned the decision to award the goal to Barcelona
Luis Suarez wheels away in celebration after his header was turned in by Luke Shaw (not pictured) to give Barcelona the lead
Suarez (right) then celebrates with Messi as the Catalan giants get a crucial away goal from home in the quarter-finals
But the truth of this game is a little different to the one presented by statistics that show, for example, that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team did not manage a shot on target all evening. That is hardly a method taken from the great United European playbook of yesteryear but nor is it something that tells us everything about an hour and a half of play that could have yielded something for the home team if only they had been a little braver, a little calmer and a little cuter.
This was not one of those Barcelona performances to drool over. The runaway La Liga leaders started with mesmerising purpose and did not give United a kick for half an hour. When Luke Shaw deflected Luis Suarez’s far-post header into his own goal at the Stretford End in only the 12th minute, it felt as though a Catalan storm was brewing.
However, it never came. Barcelona became clumsy and careless and even a little clunky. Either side of half-time, United looked as though they might be on the verge of taking advantage but never quite managed it and by the end it was Barcelona asking all the relevant questions once again.
Briefly, tantalisingly, United carried a threat, especially from wide areas. When it mattered, they could not find a pass, or a cross of sufficient quality to really bring their night to life.
Messi was left with a cut on the bridge of his nose and his eyelid during the first half at Old Trafford
The 31-year-old is left hunched over in the centre of the pitch while team-mates surround him to make sure he is alright
As part of head-injury protocol, Messi is then checked for concussion at the side of the pitch by Barcelona's medical team
Solskjaer — for whom every day must currently represent the steepest of learning curves — perhaps set the tone for the night with his selection.
It was a United team packed full of workhorses such as Scott McTominay and the Brazilian Fred, while the coltish attacking talents of Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial were left on the bench.
In terms of the United formation, it looked like a back four but it quickly became a back five or six or seven when Barcelona were on the ball.
Little wonder, then, that the Spanish side pushed forward so relentlessly early on. United simply invited pressure, tactically and mentally. Any deeper and they would have been sitting next to their own supporters.
To play this way and succeed you must not concede early.
Here, United failed. Sergio Busquets played the ball over the United central defenders to Lionel Messi and when he turned and chipped to the far post, Suarez headed across and in off Shaw. A linesman flagged for offside but there was none and the goal was awarded after a quick VAR intervention.
The rest of the night now seemed pretty well mapped out. United were in neutral, going nowhere. When the half-hour mark arrived, their centre forward Romelu Lukaku had touched the ball twice. The Old Trafford ball boys had been busier.
MATCH FACTS AND PLAYER RATINGS
MANCHESTER UNITED: (4-3-3) De Gea 7; Young 5, Smalling 6.5, Lindelof 6, Shaw 6; Fred 6, McTominay 7.5, Pogba 6; Dalot 7 (Lingard 74), Lukaku 6 (Martial 68), Rashford 6.5(Pereira 85)
SUBS NOT USED: Romero (GK); Jones, Mata, Rojo
GOALS: None
BOOKINGS: Shaw (19), Lingard (76), Smalling (86)
MANAGER: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 6
BARCELONA: (4-3-3) Ter Stegen 6.5; Semedo 7, Pique 7, Lenglet 5.5, Jordi Alba 6.5; Arthur 5.5 (Roberto 66), Busquets 5.5 (Alena 90+3), Rakitic 6; Messi 6, Suarez 7, Coutinho 6 (Vidal 65)
SUBS NOT USED: Cillessen (GK); Dembele, Malcom, Umtiti
GOALS: Shaw (OG 12)
BOOKINGS: Busquets (17), Vidal (71)
MANAGER: Ernesto Valverde 6
REFEREE: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy) 7
MAN OF THE MATCH: Scott McTominay
VENUE: Old Trafford
ATTENDANCE: 74,093
*Ratings done by Chris Wheeler
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