Barcelona beats Manchester United 0-1 via a Luke Shaw own goal, to take home a vital away goal advantage going into the second leg of the Champions League Quarterfinals at Camp Nou next week.
Barcelona controlled the game in the first half, as Manchester United as was expected, played five defenders with two players paying special attention to Messi. But in all, it was a good game, as both teams had their moments, but could not finish in front of goal.
After a very early Marcus Rashford chance, Barcelona went right to work and the dynamic duo of Messi and Suarez would hook up to create the game’s lone goal. The Argentine collected a ball on the left side of the area and floated a pass to the far post to Uruguayan, whose header deflected off of Luke Shaw and in for a 0-1 lead. It was initially ruled as offside, but VAR correctly overturned the call and the goal stood.
Barcelona who were clearly dictating the pace of the game, allowed Manchester United to have a bit of the possession, as they wait for the next scoring opportunity to unfold. But it was the home team that had the chances, with the likes of Dalot and Rashford missing great opportunities to put their team level.
Although it ended 0-1 in favour of Barcelona, I feel Manchester United going to Camp Nou and looking to win, will be a very huge task. All their efforts today was to stop Messi from playing, and although they achieved that, he was still able to create some magic, handing the Catalonians the advantage heading into the return leg next week at the Camp Nou.