Champions League, Manchester United 0-1 Barcelona: 5 Men who won the game for Barcelona

#2 Lionel Messi

Manchester United v FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: First Leg

When the greatest player in the world comes to town, it is only fair that the home team opts for all the safety measure known to man. Solskjaer went for a back 5, with Shaw as a third centerback, so that the English youngster could use his speed to keep track of Messi. Shaw got a card for his troubles and is out of the second leg. Messi, on the other hand, forced the most influential moment of the game.

Marked and constantly denied any room near the opposition box, Messi drifted deeper and sent in beautiful balls to his front men. However, in the 12th minute, the Argentinean fooled everyone in the United defense with a clever run that sent him free in the box. Busquets found his captain with a lofted ball and Messi had the presence of mind to find Suarez with acres of space in the far post. The Uruguayan’s header was deflected in by Shaw.

The Argentinean was not allowed to do too much after that, however, whenever he had the ball, he terrified the United back four. Messi even got a whack to his nose from Smalling for his troubles and was the quiet architect who won Barcelona the game. Not anywhere close to his best performance this season.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written close to 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Sujith M