Jamie Jackson on Wednesday's heroes and villains
Barney Ronay on Lionel Messi
Solskjaer's assessment
“There were pluses and negative. We started sloppy and a bit nervous. But after their goal we did well ... At times it felt like a proper Man Untied team. We got wide, got crosses in the box. Sometimes those crosses end with headers on goal, sometimes you miss them.” David Moyes couldn’t have put it better.
He adds that he was pleased that his team “settled” after conceding, as opposed to agaisnt PSG, when they conceded a second.
About McTominay he says: “Every time he plays for us he’s improving. He’s a great athlete, he can run all day long and today he was composed on the ball. He started settling us ... We’re still in the tie. There’s work to be done, but we have a chance. We’ll go there with the knowledge that we can score over there.”
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Unlike some of the emailers to this here MBM, Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves are waxing lyrical about McTominay. Both say it was a “defining game” in his United career, the proof that he belongs at the club.
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Here is Paul Wilson’s report from Old Trafford
McTominay and Smalling speak
McTominay and Fred enhanced their reputation today with strong performances in central midfield. Here are the post-match thoughts of McTominay and Smalling.
Smalling: “For a large spell were pressed quite high and made it difficult for them. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get that goal. From half time we really got at them and caused them so many problems ... We knew we had to bring that intensity that they’re not used to every week.
McTominay: “We showed them far too much respect in the first 15 minutes in terms of how we went to press. After that we took control and were the better side. They’re going to have patches where they get the ball ... it’s not as easy as saying ‘go out there and press like mayhem’ but we did well ... We just have to do more in front of goal. That’s up to the whole team to create more. But it’s only half-time. We’re Manchester United, you can never write us off.”
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Check out these Championship results. Sheffield United’s draw means Leeds remain in second place, while Villa are a team on the march.
Birmingham 1-1 Sheffield United
Brentford 2-0 Ipswich
Hull 2-1 Wigan
Rotherham 1-2 Villa
Millwall 0-0 QPR
Norwich 2-2 Reading
Full-time: United 0-1 Barcelona
Ultimately an own goal was the key difference between the sides, which is fitting because it was a scruffy game. Neither team looks like potential winners of the tournament but one of them will advance to the semi-final ... and United have grounds for hoping it could yet be them, bearing in mind what happened in Paris in the last round. But they will need to be far sharper up front and hope Barcelona play this poorly again.
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90+3 min: Vidal jumps into Smalling to prevent the defender from collecting a cross cleanly. That could easily have been a penalty but the referee decides against it.
Barcelona substitution: Alena on, Busquets off.
90+1 min: Barcelonare are trying to run down the clock by popping the ball around amongst themselves. But they’re not in good enough form to do that so they soon give it back to United. The problem is, United are no smoother and they give it right back.
90 min: There will be at least three more minutes.
89 min: McTominay spanks a pass from the centre circle wide to Perreira on the left. Perreira delivers a useful cross. But Lenglet heads it away.
87 min: Shaw floats a cross to the back post. But there’s no one there, so Alba can take it under control and then pass his way out.
86 min: Smalling sees yellow after an aerial challenge with Suarez near half way. I’m not sure there was a foul there, let alone one meriting a caution. But Suarez is making out he’s nearly got whiplash.
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United substitution: Perreira on, Rashford off.
85 min: An excellent last-gasp tackle by Piqué prevent Martial from collecting a lovely pass by McTominay.
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83 min: Messi tries to curl the freekick under the wall. It gets a couple of deflections, which take enough power of the shot to allow De Gea to readjust his feet and make a comfortable save.
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82 min: The game is all taking place at the wrong end of the pitch for United. Barça are reasserting some of their quality at last. And Pogba has jsut concede a freekick right on the edge of the box, towards the left ....
80 min: Rashford sends over an in-swinging cross from the let. Lenglet does well to head it clear at the back post.
79 min: Barça work Roberto into lots of space on the right-hand side of the United box. He has time to pick a cross ... and he gets it all wrong, donking it straight to a United player.
77 min: Roberto is to the fore as Barcelona build nicely down the right. They then work it infield to Messi, who threatens to wriggle his way into a shooting position at the edge of the area. He beats two players but not McTominay, who relieves him off the ball and clears the danger.
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75 min: Barça have got a second wind or, at least, have been able to play in the United half for the last few minutes. They’re still not quite slick but they’re doing enough to keep Untied at bay. And United are getting frustrated. Lingard, in his eagerness to regain possession, catches Vidal late and gets a booking.
United subtitution: Lingard on, Dalot off.
73 min: Semedo has been one of Barcelona’s best attackers thanks to his raids from right-back. His latest run leads to a corner for Barcelona. Messi takes it short to Piqué. And Barcelona play keepball ... until Messi overhits an attempt pass, presenting the ball to De Gea.
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71 min: Vidal gets an undeserved booking for brushing against Fred.
70 min: Rashford wallops a freekick high into the stands. “Paul, your reading of this game is comical,” screeches C Noyes. “I am listening to the Spanish broadcast and they have it right: United are poor and pointless. You must be wondering why United are losing. They are losing because they are poor and pointless. I can say it in Spanish if that interests you?” Yes, you could say United have been poor and pointless. But Barcelona have been worse for long periods. Neither of these sides look like potential winners of the competition. And the outcome of this tie is not yet certain even though Barça looked like they would walk away with it after about 20 minutes.
United substitution: Martial on, Lukaku off.
66 min: De Gea makes a good save at his near post, repelling a powerful low shot by Alba.
Barcelona substitutions: Roberto and Vidal on, Arthur and Coutinho off
65 min: Barcelona string a multitude of passes together as if trying to stabilise themselves. Then Semedo dashes in off the right flank and slips a neat pass through to Suarez, who could make it 2-0! But he fires into the sidenetting! That’s a bad miss.
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63 min: Worth mentioning that Fred has become increasingly influential here. He’s been very dynamic when it comes to winning the ball back and he has also used it pretty well. He’s almost running central midfield, which is why Solskjaer might think he can withdraw McTominay to introduce Martial. It’s time to take more risks.
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62 min: Alba heads Young’s delivery away.
61 min: Lenglet clumps into Rashford wide on the right, giving United a freekick. Young hurries over to take it. The big men come up from the back. “The way Barca are just hanging on and being so reactivate is very similar to last year against Roma,” says Paul Fitzgerald. “ Valverde needs to show his worth.”
59 min: Messi brings down Pogba in the centre circle, the latest sign that Untied are sharper than the visitors. Everywhere, that is, except in front of goal, so far.
57 min: Pogba sprays the ball wide to Young on the right. Young nudges it through to Rashford at the edge of the box. Alba nicks it off Rashford but then gives it away with an aimless pass.That’s this second half in a nutshell.
54 min: Not only are Barcelona struggling to match United in terms of tempo and physicality, their passing has been unusually erratic. Messi illustrates the point by flipping the ball wide as he tries to play in Alba.
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52 min: United pen Barcelona back. Young delivers a dangerous cross from the right Ter Stegen punches it away, but only as far as Rashford, who tries a volley from 15 yards. But he miscues, wafting the ball way wide as it comes off his shin. But it’s Barcelona who are looking very rickety. United will be furious with themselves if they don’t manage to equalise here.
50 min: It’s been a sloppy start to the second half by both teams.
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49 min: Busquets escapes unpunished after blocking a cross by McTominay with his arms at the edge of the box.
48 min: Piqué clears the corner. Fred claims the loose ball but them passes into touch while attempting to find Young.
47 min: Alba diverts a cross by Young behind for a corner. “Busquets is quite capable of making the exquisite pass that sets Messi off but seems tonight to be playing with three left feet for random periods of the game,” observes Charles Antaki. “Time for the heavy mob in the shape of Vidal to be sent on to square up to Pogba in a WWF type cage-fighting contest. The game’s had a lot going for it so far, but not that yet.”
46 min: Here we go again. No personnel changes during the break.
Here are some latest scores from a crucial round of games in the Championship. So far, it’s good news for Leeds, as Birmingham are holding Sheffield United to a draw. Aston Villa, meanwhile, are a man down but have come back from a goal behind to lead 2-1. And Reading are doing their survival hopes a power of good by leading at Norwich, no less! There is about half an hour to go in all these games.
Birmingham 1-1 Sheffield United
Brentford 2-0 Ipswich
Hull 1-1 Wigan
Norwich 0-1 Reading
Rotherham 1-2 Villa
“You spend all that money on players and end up fielding a donkey like McTominay against Barcelona in Champions League quarterfinal,” fumes C Noyes. That’s a rubbish comment, to be fair, because McTominay has played well so far. Busquets has been the most donkey-looking midfielder out there. I’d take him off at half-time to avoid him being red-carded later. He can’t seem to handle the pace any more.
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“I was resigned to United getting hammered tonight, I could live with it,” writes Oliver Atkinson. “But if we lose whilst actually being the better team but making terrible defensive mistakes and not being able to finish I’m going to be fuming.”
Half-time: United 0-1 Barcelona
For a while United looked to be in danger of embarrassment .. and then Barcelona scored. Since then, United have rallied to such an extent that they can go into the break with the conviction that they are capable of turning this tie around. When they play on the front foot, they make Barcelona look shaky at the back.
45 min: Messi picks up the ball mid-way inside the United half and pings it low to Coutinho, who flicks it through to Suarez. The striker fires first-time from the edge of the box but gets it all wrong, shanking wide.
43 min: Corner to Barcelona. Coutinho takes it short and works it back to Alba. The Messi tries to one-two his way into the box but Rashford intervenes to clear.
41 min: That’s better from Dalot! A lovely cross from the right, which ter Stegen does well to punch away.
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40 min: Rashford curls a cross from the right all the way over to the far post, where Dalot comes in with a free header. But he fails to guide it towards goal and, unlike for Suarez at the other end, no one diverted his effort into the net.
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38 min: Moments before that cross by Young, Busquets conceded a freekick for unceremoniously ending a strong run by Pogba. That could easily have been a second yellow card for Busquets. he’s unlikely get away with another foul like that.
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38 min: McTominay holds off Coutinho and Busquets mid-way inside the Barcelona half and then spreads the ball wide to Young, whose cross from the right is cleared.
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36 min: Lenglet opens up United’s defence with a lofted pass from the back. Lindelof makes a mess of his attempt to cut it out and actually helps it on to Suarez. Smalling sticks a foot in to tip the ball away from Suarez but it falls to Coutinho, who unleashes a low first-time shot from the edge of the area. De Gea makes a superb save with his feet!
34 min: The last few minutes have been much more encouraging for United, and the home fans are responding with loud encouragement. Solksjaer’s side are starting to play the way the manager said they he wanted them to: not dominating, by any means, but certainly making the visitors uncomfortable with aggressive attacking.
30 min: Messi is off the pitch receiving treatment after being dispossessed by Smalling. A little wipe of the nose and he’s back on.
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28 min: McTominay bursts into the left-hand side of the box and tries to check on to his right foot. He goes down in proximity to Piqué but there was no significant contact from the defender so the home crowd’s cries for a penalty are in vain.
27 min: Lenglet gets caught trying to play out from the back, but escapes when Young’s ensuing cross floats straight into the keeper’s arms. Again, however, there are clear signs of Barça vulnerability when United put the pressure on.
25 min: Dalot makes good ground down the let and then lays it back for Pogba, who flights a reasonable cross towards the back post. He’s fractionally too high for Lukaku. Despite being dominated, United have hinted at a threat when they go forward. They’re still in this.
24 min: A decent attack by United, insofar as they made some progressive passes in the Barcelona half, with Fred orchestrating them. But it fizzled out with a loose cross from the left by Lukaku. Meanwhile, Matt Dony has had another look at the goal. “As soon as Messi makes his run for the ball over the top, Suarez heads for the back post, entirely untroubled by any of the defenders in the box,” he notes. “It’s great forward play, but such slack defending. When you’re against players of the calibre of Messi and Suarez, you have to accept that there’s the chance they will beat you by doing something vaguely unbelievable with the ball. But that was so avoidable. Did someone say, ‘Bring it on’?”
22 min: Rashford jinks past Arthur and lets fly from 25 yards. He hits it with plenty of power but not enough precision, so it whizzes several yards over.
20 min: Shaw booked for obstructing Messi. For that he gets a yellow that rules him out of the second leg. And on that note, the goal has just been officially attributed to him, too.
19 min: Fred curls a weak freekick into the wall.
18 min: Busquets gets the booking he should have got earlier, this time for an immoral foul on Pogba. Another promising freekick for United, from over 20 yards out, to the left of the D. Barcelona put up a three-man wall...
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17 min: By the way, it is now clear that Young is at right wingback and Dalot is wide on the left. Shaw is a left-centreback in a defensive three. That, at least, is how they’re lining up when Barça are in possession.
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15 min: No sign of Barcelona taking their foot of the pedal here. They continue to dominate possession. United’s first task is to hang in there and avoid being blasted out of the tie in the first half here.
13 min: Uefa is crediting that goal to Suarez but it looked like he was trying to direct the header across goal rather than into the net. Shaw’s touch seemed decisive. Not that the defender could have done anything to get out of the way.
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GOAL! United 0-1 Barcelona (Shaw og 13)
After prolonged possession, Busquets releases Messi with a clip over the top from deep. Messi chips a cross to the back post, where Suarez tries to head it back across goal and it takes a nick off the shoulder of Shaw and carries on into the net! Var is consulted to see whether Suarez was offside ... but he wasn’t.
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10 min: Rashford knocks the ball past Piqué down the left and tries to sprint past him. But Piqué read his intentions and got there first. Still, there’s promising signs for United on the break.
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8 min: Pogba plays a lovely pass from the left wing through towards Rashford, who runs past the last defender ... but is beaten to the ball by Ter Stegen, who charges out of the box to welly clear.
6 min: Fred does well to close down Messi on the edge of the area, preventing him from getting off a shot after Semedo fed him. McTominay then followed up with an important tackle, too. Those midfielders are going to have to be as dynamic and precise as that all evening judging by how much possession Barcelona have had so far.
5 min: Rashford bangs a wobbly freekick a couple of yards wide of the far post. Interestingly, Barcelona erected only a small wall. Always wonder why more teams don’t do that when the freekick is far out, given that walls often block keepers’ views rather than the attackers shot.
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4 min: Busquets concedes a freekick with a wild tackle from behind on McTominay. He should have been booked. Perhaps United can apply punishment from the setpiece, which is about 25 yards out, a little to the right of the D.
3 min: United are struggling to get the ball as Barça set up camp in their half. Pogba is the most left-leaning of the midfield quartet (in formation terms, no idea about his political views).
2 min: Suarez is booed as he scurries down the left wing, and then Smalling gets a cheer for dispossessing him. Meanwhile, it looks like Dalot is at right-back, with Young in front of him.
1 min: We have kickoff! Barcelona do the necessary and immediately begin knocking the ball about, just like in their warmup
Old Trafford is uncharacteristically loud as the teams enter the arena. United fans are in good voice. Their team are wearing their famous red jerseys and white shorts and socks, while Barcelona are clad in fluorescent yellow.
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The teams are in the tunnel. De Gea is embracing most of the Barça team. Ashley Young, United’s captain, reaches over for a quick hug with his counterpart, Lionel Messi. That’s what peers do, you see.
“This Barcelona team are always going to be strong in attack but Man U can trouble them,” trumpets Lee Madden. “Although they top La Liga, Barcelona have conceded more goals than Atletico Madrid (+10) , Getafe (+4) and Valencia (+5). Man U’s front line should be aiming to score at least twice, as you’ve got to assume Barca will score once in any given game.”
There’s a fan in the crowd wearing a big Bulgaria flag. Is he pining for Dimitar Berbatov? Or maybe he’s trying to give United flashbacks to the time Hristo Stoichkov took them to the cleaners?
Solskjaer's says United aim to dominate Barça
“We need to improve on the first leg [of the PSG tie]. We know we need to play better at home. It’s down to us to try to dominant the game. If we let them dominate, we’re in for a hard game. So that’s part of the battle, to maybe take control of the ball.”
He’s unsure how long Rashford will be able to last because he’s just recovered his fitness. “But you know Rash, he lives for these games.”.
The teams are on the pitch at Old Trafford going through their pre-game stretches and what not. “Lionel Messi warms exactly how he wants to warm up,” announces Steve McManaman, almost swooning. That warm-up, by the way, seems to involve some gentle stroking the ball about and the occasional caress of a baroque tattoo on his left leg (the tattoo appears to feature a ball and a hand, no doubt Messi’s own tribute to Diego Maradona).
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If things go well today, this match could be worthy of a recap by Rob Smyth, who’s done a splendid Joy of Six on great United-Barcelona meetings. Lookit:
BT’s pundits reckon United will play a 4-5-1, with Dalot at right-back and Young in midfield in front of him. That would be less risky than the other version being bandied about, which has Dalot as a Messi-tracking midfield operative. So, United fans, on a scale of one to Zlatan, how confident are you?
“Presumably Coutinho is in the starting XI in the hope that someone in the UK will like what they see?” parps Charles Antaki. “Surely some will take pity and free him from His Barcelona Hell?” Indeed. Pray for Coutinho.
Ander Herrera is not available for United today and that’s something they’re going to have to get used to - because he’s close to agreeing a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Let Jamie Jackson tell you more:
Teams
Are you United playing a back three? Or is it a back four with Dalot deployed as some fashion of protective midfielder, probably towards United’s left, where Messi will be looking to make merry.
United: De Gea; Young, Smalling, Lindelof, Shaw; Fred, McTominay, Pogba, Dalot; Lukaku, Rashford
Subs: Romero, Jones, Mata, Martial, Lingard, Pereira, Rojo
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Arthur; Messi, Suarez, Coutinho
Subs: Cillessen, Dembélé, Malcom, Roberto, Vidal, Umtiti, Alena
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Ita)
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Preamble
Hello. How do you follow up a miracle? Maybe by beating the team powered by Lionel Messi. Manchester United can always look back fondly on a thrilling night in Paris in the last round but they have lost three of their four matches since then and there is a risk of their sensational comeback against Paris Saint-Germain being recorded by historians as the set-up to an epic humiliation at the hands of Barcelona. Unless, of course, United actually overcome today’s visitors to Old Trafford, which would mean surpassing anything they have done so far under Ole Gunnar Solskjær or, indeed, Jose Mourinho and Louis Van Gaal. United haven’t even been at this stage of the Champions League since the glory, glory days of David Moyes.
Today United are going to have to strike a dicey balance. They will want to get at least a narrow lead to take to the Nou Camp and that will require scoring, something they have only managed once in four Champions League matches at Old Trafford this season. But they won’t want to leave themselves too open, otherwise Barça could kill the tie with a salvo of away goals. Solskjær must know, however, that no matter how he approaches the game, Barcelona are capable of tearing his defence apart. And Barcelona know the importance of an away goal, because failure to score even one has led to them being eliminated at this stage of the competition in each of the last three years. That fact alone shows that Barça are not quite as mighty as they once were, but they’re still pretty darn good. And they’ll still got Messi. And Luis Suarez, who, you’ve got to think, would take much pleasure in scoring at Old Trafford. David De Gea is going to have to be in top form. And so, too, is Paul Pogba. The eyes of the world, including Real Madrid, are on him. So then, to quote Chris Smalling, bring it on.
Kick off: 8pm BST
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