Barcelona and Manchester United played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Europa League play-off tie on Thursday.
Marcus Rashford’s heroics were not enough for Manchester United as Raphinha’s fortuitous goal rescued Barcelona a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Europa League knockout round play-off.
In-form Rashford scored his 22nd goal of the season – matching his best tally for a single campaign – to cancel out Marcos Alonso’s opener in Thursday’s thrilling clash at Camp Nou.
United were ahead nine minutes after falling behind thanks to more good work from Rashford, whose quick thinking from a short corner culminated in Jules Kounde putting into his own net.
But Barca, who lost influential midfielder Pedri to a first-half injury, hit back against the run of play in the 76th minute when Raphinha’s cross went right the way through to keep things finely poised ahead of next week’s return leg.
Wout Weghorst was played clean through by Bruno Fernandes in the first big opening of the game but was denied by Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who was also equal to Casemiro’s header.
Ter Stegen produced another fine stop to keep out Rashford, while David de Gea got a strong hand to Jordi Alba’s effort after Aaron Wan-Bissaka was caught dawdling.
Alonso opened the scoring four minutes into the second half, losing his marker and heading in Raphinha’s corner, but the visitors swiftly levelled.
Fred surged forward and played in Rashford, who blasted past Ter Stegen at his near post to keep his hot streak going.
Rashford was key again just before the hour, driving into the box and delivering a cross that went in off Kounde after Fernandes flicked it on.
United looked good value for another goal but were instead pegged back soon after – Raphinha’s right-sided cross evading Robert Lewandowski and nutmegging Raphael Varane before nestling in the bottom-left corner.
Barca went particularly close to finding a late winner as Casemiro hit his own post amid a scramble, before De Gea superbly denied Ansu Fati in a gripping conclusion that also saw the hosts have a penalty appeal rejected for a possible handball against Fred.
What does it mean? United frustrated despite fine performance
This is a tie we are more accustomed to seeing in the Champions League – indeed, they met in the final of that competition in 2009 and 2011 – but this is the new reality for both, as United boss Erik ten Hag put it ahead of the game.
It more than lived up to its blockbuster billing, with the sides managing a whopping 18 attempts each, eight of which were on target from Barca and five from United.
Barca’s eight-game winning run may have come to an end, but they will arguably be the happier of the two sides, as reflected by their expected goals (xG) figure of 1.3 compared to United’s 2.1.
Rampant Rashford at it again
Rashford’s 14 goals in all competitions since club football resumed following the World Cup break is at least four more than any other player across Europe’s top five leagues (Karim Benzema has 10).
The England international truly is in the form of his life, having already matched his career-high tally from the 2019-20 campaign. Not only did he find the net, he also effectively set up United’s second, though it ultimately was not enough.
Lewy fires another blank
Lewandowski entered this game with 45 goals from his past 37 European games, but this was an off day for the usually prolific Poland international.
He only managed two attempts in a game that saw a total of 36 at both ends and only one of his was on target, with De Gea keeping it out before the second-half madness ensued, and he has now gone three matches without a goal for Barca.
Key Opta facts
- Manchester United have scored in each of their last 19 away games in all European competition (36 goals in total), since a 0-0 draw at AZ in October 2019.
- Barcelona have conceded nine goals in five home games in European and cup competition this season, compared to just one goal in 10 LaLiga matches at Camp Nou.
- Barcelona’s Raphinha has been involved in five goals in his four appearances against Manchester United in all competitions, scoring two and assisting three.
- This was the fourth time Raphinha has both scored and assisted in a match for Barcelona this season, more than any other LaLiga player in all competitions.
- Barcelona are unbeaten in all six of their home games against Manchester United (W3 D3), with these matches seeing an average of 3.2 goals per game (19 – 14 for Barcelona, 5 for Man Utd).
