United lacked the clinical edge in front of the post and Rashford sliced horribly wide after goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s punched clearance landed at the striker’s feet within six minutes of the restart.
Rashford has actually been low key shocking for weeks now. Escaped lots of criticism cz he’s young. We praise him as an adult so we must criticize him like one.— All For United🔴 (@allforunited) April 10, 2019
United should have drawn level four minutes before half-time when Rashford’s cross from the right found Diogo Dalot unmarked at the back post, but the Portuguese got caught in two minds and sent an aimless header across the face of the exposed Barca goal.
Barca upped the tempo in search of a potentially crucial second, but United prevented further damage, living to fight another day ahead of next Tuesday’s return leg in Catalonia.
Manchester United will need another famous result at Camp Nou if they are to reach the last four of the Champions League after they were beaten 1-0 by a sub-par Barcelona in the first leg of their quarter-final meeting at Old Trafford.
Luke Shaw’s unfortunate own goal after ten minutes proved decisive, as the home side failed to take advantage of a disjointed display from their visitors in an underwhelming encounter.
Luke Shaw scores a goal.
But unfortunately Sorry Man Utd fans it’s an own goal #MUFCBarça#ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/fwpaOtbfYB— Kaushik Ram (@KaushikRam) April 10, 2019
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 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.