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Barcelona came into the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal as the heavy favourites. The Catalan club just needed to avoid defeat in order to qualify for the semifinals for the first time in four years. On the other hand, Manchester United had a monumental task in their hands as they had to beat Barcelona at Camp Nou, something no team has done for six years.
The visitors started the match on the front foot as they had some chances to level the aggregate score. Once Barcelona got into the groove there was no hope for the Red Devils. Barcelona was awarded a penalty which was eventually overturned by the VAR.
Lionel Messi made full use of the loose ball by Ashley Young to give a 1-0 lead to Barcelona. Then he doubled the scoring as David de Gea made a huge blunder. From there on, Manchester United was just chasing the shadows as Barcelona kept the ball.
Phillipe Coutinho added salt to the wounds of Manchester United by scoring one brilliant goal to make it 3-0. Barcelona has qualified for the semifinals by winning quarterfinals with the aggregate score of 4-0. On the other hand, this is United's fifth defeat in the last seven matches in all competitions.
Let us look at some of the reasons behind Barcelona's convincing win.
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#3 Solid defence
It was a very convincing win for Barcelona but they must thank their defence for a solid effort. Manchester United have some quality strikers who had the ability to change the course of the tie. We saw it against PSG when United mounted a brilliant comeback in Paris after losing the home leg by 2-0.
The Barcelona defence led by Gerard Pique was up for the task. After weathering the initial attacks from the visitors, they held their line well to not afford any further chances to the Red Devils.
The fact that United could not even score a single goal over the two goals is a testament to the defensive effort of Barcelona. This solid defence is the reason that Barcelona is in running to win the treble yet again this season.
#2 No sign of tiredness
In the first leg, Barcelona seemed to be a bit tired after playing a lot of matches this season. There were a lot of miss passes in the first leg at Old Trafford. Those mistakes gave Manchester United a reason to believe that they could mount a comeback at Camp Nou.
Ernesto Valverde understood this and rested most of his first-teamers against Huesca over the weekend. This gave a much-needed break to the players and they seemed refreshed in the match. Barcelona played beautiful football and won convincingly.
While United were chasing the game, they were also left to chase the shadows as Barcelona was in no good to give the ball. The midfield moved the ball brilliantly as the United midfield was starved for possession. If they can continue the rhythm in the upcoming rounds it would be almost impossible to stop Barcelona.
#1 Lionel Messi's form
Having Lionel Messi is equivalent to having a cheat code. Manchester United made a good start tonight as they believed that they can beat Barcelona. Lionel Messi extinguished all those hopes of a comeback in the five-minute masterclass.
The Argentine maestro made full use of the mistakes made by United to take the game away from them. First, it was Ashley Young who gave the ball away and Lionel Messi gave no chance to David de Gea. Then Messi tried a shot with his right foot, but he couldn't generate much power. The Spanish goalkeeper made a huge blunder as Messi completed his brace.
If this was not enough, Messi was also involved in the third goal of Barcelona. The Argentine legend started the move with an incredibly long pass, the move was eventually finished by Coutinho who scored from 25 yards. This meant that Messi was involved in all four Barcelona goals in this tie.
