It’s funny how this was the Champions League Final matchup only twelve years ago. Man United and Barcelona played to a fast-paced, nervy, and dramatic 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou, proving both teams are worthy of Champions League football.
I know United failed to qualify and Barcelona was knocked out in the group stages, but you can’t tell me these two teams belong in the Europa League. Yet here we are.
Like I said, due to United failing to qualify for the Champions League last season and Barcelona getting dumped out of the Champions League in the group stages back in December, these two giant clubs were drawn in a Europa League qualifier to determine who will qualify for the Round of 16.
Yeah, this wasn’t even an official knockout stage match of the Europa League, but that certainly didn’t matter for the two sets of players and managers on the field.
It was essentially end-to-end football from the first minute of the game to the last minute as both Man United and Barcelona took turns dictating play and getting clear-cut looks on each other’s net.
Now, given how Barcelona were playing at home, they dominated possession pretty heavily (61% for Barca vs. 39% for Man Utd) as Xavi had them play an updated version of “Tiki-taka” football that his own Barca teams of the 2000’s and 2010’s made famous.
And it worked pretty well against a United midfield that was left barebones with Scott Mctominay, Christian Eriksen, and Donny Van Der Beek’s out injured, and Marcel Sabitzer and Lisandro Martinez (who can fill in at times) suspended due to Yellow Card accumulations.
Thus, Barca’s midfield of Gavi, Pedri, Frenkie De Jong, Franck Kessie, and later Sergi Roberto was able to control 61% of the ball, accumulate 475 passes, and have an 81% passing accuracy rate by the end of the match.
The injury to Pedri really threw off the flow of the midfield between the 40th-70th minutes of the game, which allowed United to rack up 18 shots, 5 on target, and the Rashford and Jules Kounde OG goals to take a 2-1 lead, but Barca soon retook control and peppered David de Gea’s net with 18 shots of their own with 8 ended up on target.
I know de Gea gave up two goals (Marcos Alonso header in the 50th minute and Raphinha’s seeing-eye shot in the 76th minute), but he was United’s Man of the Match by a mile. In truth, if it wasn’t for de Gea’s brilliant saves, such as the one he had on Ansu Fati right at the end of the match, United would have lost this first leg.
He was that good…which was nice to see as he redeemed his torrid Camp Nou performance in the Champions League back in 2019.
Anyway, I’ve got to pick United as the favorites to win this match as they not only are going to get Lisandro Martinez and Marcel Sabitzer back for the second leg at Old Trafford, but Barcelona is now also facing an injury crisis as Pedri, Ousmane Dembele, and Sergio Busquets are all injured. Plus, Gavi is also going to miss the second leg after he picked up another Yellow Card in the second half.
Furthermore, Barcelona’s Back-3 of Ronald Araújo, Marcos Alonso, and Jules Kounde did not have their greatest game as Marc-Andre ter Stegen bailed them out on numerous occasions. If Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho, and/or Wout Weghorst are able to score on just one of their missed chances (to which there was at least 3-4) today at Old Trafford, then this tie could get out of Barca’s grasp quickly.
Regardless of who wins the tie (which I’m praying Man United does), this was a fantastic matchup to watch and shows how many great teams are actually in the Europa League. I mean, Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus, Ajax, Monaco, Bayern Leverkusen, Sevilla, PSV, Roma, and Sporting Lisbon all played matches today, while Arsenal, Real Sociedad, and Feyenoord have already qualified for the next round.
I know the competition has been mocked for years as being a “small club” trophy, but you can’t deny there are some really good teams and styles football on display.
At the very least, this United vs. Barca games was better than the Champions League games played yesterday.
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