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

#1 Gerard Pique

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

The Spaniard was back at the arena where he spent some time as a youngster. Much of Pique, the player, was shaped at Old Trafford where he had joined as a 17-year-old teenager and had left as a man. On his return, the Spaniard showed signs that would have made his mentor, watching from the stands, proud.

Pique was the rock at the heart of the defense for this Barcelona team who kept going at United on every invitation. Semedo and Alba bombed forward, the midfielders stationed themselves a little higher and Barcelona tried very hard to open United up. It left the Catalans a bit short at the back, but every time United charged forward, they were met with a defiant Pique.

The Spaniard covered very well for the marauding Semedo, matching pace with Dalot and even Rashford on quite a few occasions. On the times that United tried to find a way through the middle, Pique ensured that there was no space available. His tackles were spot on and he did not put a foot wrong in the whole game.

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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.

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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.

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Edited by Sujith M