Barcelona was light years away from winning but Man United wasted it all

The talk had been that Barcelona might opt for a safety-first approach, featuring Arturo Vidal as an extra midfielder, but the Chilean was only among the substitutes, with Philippe Coutinho joining Messi and Luis Suarez in an attack on his return to England.

It took just 10 minutes for Barcelona to start the move that would end with the opener, though it took 48 passes and more than two minutes before the ball found the net.

Barcelona, with superstar Lionel Messi quiet by his standards, were nowhere near their best but secured the win after Luis Suarez’s far post header from the Argentine’s pass deflected in off Luke Shaw in the 12th minute and was confirmed by the video assistant referee after initially being given offside.

Manchester United’s players took the applause of Old Trafford – but it was acknowledgement of a plucky effort rather than praise for any serious quality.

United had excellent performers, with youngster Scott McTominay delivering a performance of real maturity, but the bottom line was that they barely laid a glove on Barcelona all night.

👏👏👏 @3gerardpique
✅ A return to Old Trafford
✅ A win
✅ Man of the match pic.twitter.com/FqOBJwaGC0— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 10, 2019

And the frustration for the Premier League side will be that this should be regarded as a missed opportunity because Barcelona were light years away from their flowing best here.

This was the first time United have failed to have a shot on target in a Champions League game since March 2005, when they lost away to AC Milan.

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