Champions League: Defeat to Barcelona Shows Manchester United Have a Long Way to Go

Manchester United fell 0-3 to Barcelona in their Champions League Quarter-Final 2nd leg on Tuesday, in an abysmal performance that highlighted the difference between them and Europe’s elite.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been magnificent during his short stint as manager for Manchester United, bringing a belief back to the historic club that had lost its way. He took United back to the Ferguson days of fast-paced counter-attacking football and revitalized a United side that seemed well and truly out of the race for the top four. But while Solskjaer has certainly made progress with his squad, the humbling 4-0 aggregate defeat against Barcelona showed that the Norwegian has a long way to if he wants to restore the club to glory days seen during his playing days.

At the Nou Camp, Lionel Messi put the tie away within the first twenty minutes, as the Argentinian capitalized on two United mistakes to give his side a commanding 3-0 aggregate lead. First, Ashley Young dawdled on the ball in his defensive third, trying to force a pass off while facing a Barcelona press. The Englishman failed to get the ball clear and it fell to Messi’s feet about 25 yards out. A deft nutmeg past Fred and a few touches later the ball was in the back of the net. On the second, a weak Messi shot crawled under keeper David de Gea, and that was that. Game over.

Messi’s first goal was the kind of chance that Manchester United fashioned for themselves in the first leg. Three or four times in the first half of the match at Old Trafford, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba gave the ball away to United players in similar situations, yet, Barcelona always seemed to weather the storm – either by getting enough men back or by committing a professional foul to stop the attack. Where Barcelona had the extra quality of Messi in the final third to make that incisive pass or create a shot for himself, Paul Pogba and the rest of United’s midfielders and attackers struggled to put any real pressure on Marc André Ter-Stegen.

In that first leg at Old Trafford, United largely managed to nullify the threat of Barcelona, thanks in huge part to the industrious work of Scott McTominay in the center of midfield, who seemed to be charging at the Barcelona no. 10 every time he received the ball. But while Messi and co. didn’t enjoy a great day on that evening, neither did United’s attackers, as the Red Devils only managed 0.4 xG on the evening.

But Manchester United are a big enough team that they should not have to sit back like that against anyone. Look at Ajax. The Dutch side have upset all the odds to make it to the semifinals of the Champions League because they are playing their own way. It doesn’t matter whether they’re playing in the Eredivisie against FC Emmen or in the Champions League against Juventus, Ajax plays the same style of attacking football.

At the moment, United are not there. It’s clear that they can’t hang in against the top sides. Even in the last round against PSG, when the Red Devils pulled off a miraculous comeback against the Parisians in the second leg, United were outclassed for much of the 180 minutes, and deserved to be further behind than they were when that fateful penalty was called on Presnel Kimpembe. All the areas United need to improve can be analyzed by studying Messi’s first goal.