The Red Devils hit hard as they overthrew Barcelona. CARL RECINE / REUTERS
The Red Devils ended the invincibility of the Barcelonans (2-1, 2-2 first leg) which had lasted since October 26, in all competitions.
At the end of a match of great intensity, Manchester United emerged victorious from the shock against Barcelona. The Red Devils won 2-1 thanks to goals from Fred and then Antony.
In this clash between Manchester United and Barcelona, we quickly understood that their places were not in the Europa League. From the first minutes, the players imposed a great intensity. Bruno Fernandes got a huge chance but Ter Stegen was very careful with the cross shot from the Portuguese (3rd, 0-0). Manchester United continued this momentum with heavy pressing on the Barcelona balls. The Catalans were trying to calm the pace, while United put a lot of verticality and speed into their game.
But the first period changed when Fernandes foolishly hooked Balde in the box. Lewandowski took charge of opening the scoring from the penalty spot, even if De Gea was close to making a decisive save (18th, 0-1). Thereafter, the intensity of the match remained very high on the pitch, but also outside with Xavi and Ten Hag quite agitated. Clément Turpin, the French referee of the meeting, had a lot to do. After half an hour of play, the Catalans still took the upper hand over their opponents, depriving them of the ball, and preventing the Red Devils from approaching Ter Stegen’s cages.
A game with crazy intensity
In the second half, the pace had not dropped, quite the contrary. As at the start of the match, the Red Devils got the first chance, but this time it ended in the bottom for the English. Fred takes a full axis pass from Fernandes and continues with a right foot shot to deceive Ter Stegen (47th, 1-1). The Barcelonians then had enormous difficulty in resuming their cruising speed of the first 45 minutes. Manchester took the opportunity to attack the Barça camp, but without taking the lead. Xavi’s men had a little burst of pride on a fine header from Koundé, but that was without counting the exceptional tap from De Gea (64th, 1-1).
Nothing to worry about United who immediately went back to the front. The English will logically be rewarded with this goal from Antony, with a very nice curled shot from the left foot (73rd, 2-1). One would then think that Barça was going to put a boost to come back to the score, but no. The Red Devils clearly dominated in intensity and impact. Barça got a last huge chance in the last seconds of the match thanks to Lewandowski but Varane threw himself to ward off the danger in front of his line (90th + 4, 2-1).
Deprived of Gavi and Pedri, the Barcelonans failed to pick up the thread of the match in the final minutes of the game. Xavi’s men are eliminated from the Europa League, and concede their first defeat since October 26, 2022.
