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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Kevin Beirne & Paul Clarke

Former Manchester United stars label Barcelona an 'ageing team' after Champions League clash

Barcelona have been hit with strong criticism despite taking a 1-0 first-leg lead in their Champions League quarter-final tie with Manchester United.

The Spanish giants have the advantage ahead of the second leg at the Camp Nou next Tuesday but BT Sport pundits Rio Ferdinand, Henrik Larsson and Owen Hargreaves have all rubbished the idea that they are invincible.

Barcelona may be running away with the La Liga title and Lionel Messi arguably playing the best football of his career, but at Old Trafford they were uninspiring.

A depleted Man Utd didn't have enough to pick up a result in the first leg but the trio of pundits insist Barcelona will not be scaring any of their Champions League rivals with their display on Wednesday evening.

"They’re really comfortable in La Liga, 11 points clear of Atletico in second but they won’t scare anyone playing like this," former United midfielder Owen Hargreaves explained.

"Busquets, we all said we’ve never seen him give away that many balls in possession. It wasn’t only that. Pique there, he gets back in and clears it. But if you’re Liverpool or someone, this Barca team won’t scare you."

Rio Ferdinand also echoed those thoughts by commenting: "It looked like they are an ageing team at the moment.

"They’ve got Messi so they’ve always got a chance because of his greatness but they don’t look like a team who are physically capable of being able to deal with teams that put them under pressure."

Former Man Utd and Barcelona striker Henrik Larsson added: "I got the feeling they were happy with just getting the goal away from home."

Manchester United star Paul Pogba sends Barcelona message ahead of Champions League second leg 

Manchester United fans baffled by L'Equipe player ratings after Barcelona defeat 

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