In this case it was not possible to determine the winner.
Unusual view
It seems that Barcelona and Manchester United have decided not only to make the Europa League more prestigious in some points than the Champions League, but also to make the match dramatic. However, behind this revelry and feast of open football and chances, there are precisely the problems that partly led both teams to end up in the Europa League, and not the Champions League. But in any case, I had to automatically pull myself up, looking at the name of the teams in the upper left corner of the screen and the name of the tournament, which does not fit into such a combination of names.
From the first minutes it was possible to pay attention to unusual combinations in the defense of both teams. In Manchester, Shaw, who is more commonly seen on the left side, took over as one of the centre-backs alongside Varane, and on the left was Malasia. Yes, it happened, but it’s still not very traditional. Barcelona’s Kunde and Alonso, also most often seen on the wing, ended up with a pairing of centre-backs, while Araujo and Alba settled on the sidelines. Such combinations were at least intriguing. In the creative zone for both teams, everything looked more or less familiar.
Goalkeeper performance
At first, the rivals did not promise anything extremely spectacular. He seemed to play in the spirit of the teams from the early Champions League play-offs, where there were few goals, sometimes a lot of cautious action, with future return in mind. Similar slides in the first half and here. But gradually the realization came that the Europa League is not the Champions League, the pressure is still a little lower, and the excitement of the match overwhelmed and took away more than the desire to play carefully. Furthermore, those very unusual combinations in defense invited to test their strength. To the enemy.
But the first half was a test of patience for the crowd. The rivals opened up to each other the defense, which made mistakes, but in the end the smallness was lacking. And Ter Stegen and De Gea showed why they are among world-class goalkeepers. Everyone in the first half parried skilfully where the strikers weren’t let down by the accuracy or consistency of the plays. Therefore, at the end of time, zeros remained on the board and discontent within the players. Barcelona had more ball possession but lacked variety and creativity and Manchester United wasted moments.
“Winged Swing”
And the reward for those who suffered and did not change the transmission was the second half. And from the first minutes. The opponents seemed to have turned off the caution mode, and their coaches showed their wards specific weaknesses in mutual defense. That kind of game began, where the defense was obviously inferior in quality to the offense.
In the event that the class of teams is different, then with such a game there are “swings”, but the score is steadily growing in one direction. And something like 5:2 happens. In this case, the class of teams turned out to be approximately equal, and the degree of errors in defense and skill in attack was approximately the same. This gave open football with a complex scenario, coups and many scoring chances.
It all started with new missed chances, but Alonso still managed to strike De Gea after a corner. David, who played flawlessly in the first half, didn’t help here. And it was as if he had passed the baton to Ter Stegen. Rashford burst into his own penalty area from the right and struck the goalkeeper from the sharpest angle.
The German left exactly a ball-sized gap between himself and the post. Marcus landed there without looking up. The phenomenal form of English never ceases to amaze. He scored in the fourth consecutive game and since the World Cup he has scored 14 goals in 16 games for Manchester United.
A few minutes later, Barcelona was already in the state of a winning team. After a corner kick and confusion in front of goal, ter Stegen Kunde made an unsuccessful attempt to intercept the ball and sent it into his own goal. And here it can be noted that the “swing” period is over.
It included a large way of trading potentially successful attacks. If the starting segment of an even fight ended with an equal score, then the second, shorter, but more intense segment, in which both teams also created chances for several goals, ended with the victory of the Manchester entered the third segment with a psychological and emotional advantage. It’s a great moment for Barcelona and Xavi.
Restart
The Catalans, who had won their previous 11 matches, were not mentally prepared to accept defeat. Not the same level of trust in the team, which wasn’t taken seriously not so long ago. Xavi turned the game upside down with a triple sub, which kept the lineup but shifted the focus and characters. Even on the defensive.
Ten Hag, on the other hand, relied only on the courage that seized its starting lineup. He didn’t change anything until the last minute. The only permutation of the Dutchman was the exit of Garnacho in place of Sancho in the 82nd minute. Whereas Xavi used all five substitutions. And not in vain, I must say. He managed to return those same “swings”, but with a psychologically rebooted team. And the last minutes were for Barcelona.
She approached this segment with an indicator of 11:16 on shots on target, and the match ended with equal value – 18:18. The Catalans stormed back towards the end of the half to equalise, which was reflected in the scoreline. Moreover, the score became even already in the 76th minute after an unusual shot by Rafinha, who did not hit at all, but circled Lewandowski, but the Pole did not touch the ball, but confused Varan and De Gea. After this goal, Barcelona had a lot of scoring chances, but none of them scored.
Amusing experiments, due to team defeats and coaching decisions, partly ensured such a brilliant game. An important role was played by the state of the tournament and the psychological characteristics of the performers and teams. There is no doubt that at Old Trafford we will see something similar and curious.
This time the coaches are down. In the same ten Hag, Zabitzer and Martinez were disqualified, Eriksen, Martial, Anthony and McTominay were injured. Xavi, on the other hand, has experienced more. But in the return match he will have to go out. Gavi worked exactly through a disqualification, Pedri was injured, but he might still have time to return. There are also problems with Busquets. But it’s good that the teams decided to find a way out of the situation in the football “meat grinder”, albeit inevitable and associated with an abundance of mistakes in defense.
