Barcelona (EFE) Trafford.
It was an intense game, with all four goals scored in the second half, and with two bad news for the Catalans, who will not count for the second leg neither with Pedri, injured, nor with Gavi, sanctioned for accumulating yellow cards.
Neither Christensen nor Balde played out. He entrusted Xavi to Araujo on the right wing, perhaps waiting for Rashford in that area, and surprised with the entry of Marcos Alonso and Jordi Alba. In any case, it was difficult for Barcelona to catch the thread of the game against an energetic rival, who pressed the ball out and showed his great moment of play.
And it is that the Catalans did not play the ball from behind, where Koundé had problems to start the construction, de Jong was very covered and the only solution was to skip passing lanes with an obvious hole in the United rear: the right-handed side .
THE INITIAL LEADERSHIP OF ALBA
There Jordi Alba attacked Wan-Bissaka, who constantly lost position and closed too much towards the center, with which his band became a highway.
Thus came the first approximation of the Catalans, in an action by Alba, which Gavi let go and a shot by Lewandowski that did not surprise De Gea (min. 9).
The next action was a free kick launched by Marcos Alonso (min. 13) in a shot over the crossbar. The pace of the match was frantic, United fed off the energy of Fred and Casemiro, lived off Rashford’s vertigo and Jadon Sancho’s imbalance.
But the next approximation was also an arrival by Pedri at minute 18. Little by little, United took control of the game, taking advantage of every mistake, every doubt from Barcelona to put Ter Stegen’s goal on target and they started to come the opportunities.
De Jong intervened to deflect a shot from Sancho (27) and a minute later, Weghorst had the clearest chance of the first half, but Ter Stegen was splendid one on one and saved his team, not only on this occasion, but also in another with Rashford as the protagonist at half an hour.
And in the final part of the first half, the Catalans breathed something else. They shook off their dominance and had an occasion comparable to the previous two for United in an action by Alba (min. 38), which saved De Gea.
The bad news of the first half was the injury to Pedri, who was substituted in the 40th minute by Sergi Roberto; the good news is that he held up against United equally in the first half with a hectic pace of play.
SPECTACULAR SECOND TIME
And everything pointed out in the first half was amplified in the first minutes of the second, with three goals in the first fifteen minutes and a fourth in minute 76.
Raphinha (min. 47) had aimed with a shot from distance and the Brazilian served a corner in minute 50 that allowed Marcos Alonso to make it 1-0.
The Barça central defender finished off the winger’s service splendidly. He chipped the ball on the ground and beat De Gea. Marcos pointed to the sky in memory of his father, who recently passed away, and the team fully embraced him (1-0).
But incomprehensibly after taking the lead in the marking, Barcelona deflated. Rashford came into play, set up by Fred, and beat Ter Stegen at the short stick (1-1, min. 52).
Nine minutes later, Rashford intervened again after a corner kick and Koundé deflected into his own goal (1-2, min. 59). The response to the lack of control of his team were three changes by Xavi, who put Ansu, Balde and Christensen into play, seeking a balance that until then had been very fragile.
And his team reacted. He got closer to 2-2 in a shot from Lewandowski and Raphinha hit the mark in minute 76, which, with a long shot, surprised De Gea, after a great recovery in the opposite field.
In the last quarter of an hour, the game went back and forth, it seemed like a final and not the first leg of a tie. And Barça arrived more whole in the final stretch. The Catalans claimed some hands from Fred (min. 86), the ball hit the post in minute 87, Ansu forced De Gea to make a great intervention, Balde finished off wide (min.90) and Ansu next to the post (min. 93). Everything will be decided at Old Trafford.
Datasheet:
2 – Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Araujo, Koundé, Marcos Alonso (Christensen, min. 66), Jordi Alba (Balde, min. 66); Frenkie de Jong, Pedri (Sergi Roberto, min. 41), Kessié (Ansu Fati, min. 66); Raphinha (Ferran Torres, min. 83), Lewandowski and Gavi.
2 – Manchester United: De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Shaw, Malacia; Casemiro, Fred; Sancho (Garnacho, min. 82), Bruno Fernandes, Rashford; and Weghorst.
Goals: 1-0, min. 50: Mark Alonso. 1-1, min. 52: Rashford. 1-2 minutes. 59: Koundé (own door). 2-2 minutes. 76: Raphinha.
Referee: Maurizio Mariani (ITA). He showed yellow cards to Alba (min. 30), Varane (min. 43), Casemiro (min. 65), United’s coach Ten Hag (min. 66), Malacia (min. 73), Gavi (min. 73)
Incidents: First leg of the round of 32 of the Europa League played at the Spotify Camp Nou before 90,225 spectators. Before the start of the meeting, there was a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. For the second leg, Barcelona loses Pedri and Gavi due to injury, due to sanction.EFE
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