FIVE ASIDES Europa League play-off, first leg: Barcelona 2, United 2
Next time anyone makes a list of the great Barcelona-United meetings, 16 February 2023 will be there. And it won’t just be a mention – it will be a rhapsody. This was far too good for a Europa League play-off, but just right for Barca v United.
It had a little bit of everything. It was a stalemate, then a goalfest. It was one-sided, then thrillingly poised. It belonged to Barcelona, then to United; to Marcos Alonso, then to Marcus Rashford, then to Raphinha.Â
It had great goals and own goals, great saves and bad misses, bad fouls and clever fouls. Casemiro hit the post at the wrong end. Wout Weghorst missed a sitter at the right end. United were outpassed, but never outclassed. They ended up having 18 attempts on goal, the same as their hosts. The average-positions map was bizarre: it suggested that United were playing 2-6-2.
Fred had a nightmare for 50 minutes, then played like a dream. He was at fault for the first goal, failing to jump when a corner looped to Alonso at the far post. But he found redemption within two minutes, getting an assist with a lovely little pass to Rashford. With Fred, you have to take the rough with the smooth.
Barcelona’s goals were team efforts, whereas United’s were largely down to one man: Rashford. The shot he slotted between Marc-Andre ter Stegen and the near post was against the laws of geometry. The feint with which he shook off a defender before creating the second goal was verging on the criminal. He tired by the end, understandably; Erik ten Hag, whose audacious reshuffle had gone so swimmingly, was a little too reluctant to change a winning formula. But as Ten Hag himself said, everybody’s going to want to watch the sequel.
Tim de Lisle writes about sport for The Guardian and music for The Mail on Sunday. If you’re still on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.