Manchester United 0-1 Barcelona: 3 reasons why Barcelona won the match

#3 Impressive Pique keeps United at bay

Pique impresses on his return to Old Trafford

One of the main reasons why the Red Devils couldn’t get on the scoresheet was because of the performance of an ex-Red Devil. Gerrard Pique showed his class with an accomplished performance and bailed Barcelona out on many occasions with his brilliant positioning and timely interceptions.

He did well to deal with the physical nature of Lukaku and the lightning-quick pace of Rashford. United pressed Barca high up the pitch and dominated the midfield battle. This period of sustained attack saw Ernesto Valverde send Arturo Vidal on for Philipe Coutinho who had a quiet game apart from the one save he drew from De Gea.

Vidal brought some solidarity in midfield, helped to retrieve the ball and an additional member in the central areas gave them some added control when both Fred and Mctominay were having their finest games in the United shirt.

This was not a vintage Barcelona performance but the visitors were street smart in their approach, professional and will be pleased with an away goal lead to take into the second leg.