Champions League: Manchester United 0-1 Barcelona, 5 Talking Points

#1 Sloppy Busquets, quiet Messi and wasteful Suarez get job done

Messi was often quiet but effective, dropping deep to collect the ball and create chances

Suarez will be unhappy about not ultimately getting credit for Barca's winning strike, but the Uruguayan endured a difficult evening's work overall. Shackled well and often left isolated in attack by the Lindelof-Smalling pairing, he spent more time complaining to officials rather than doing what he does best - linking up play, creating chances and leading the frontline like the world-class forward he is.

He was dispossessed far too often and easily (game-high 8 times), dropped deeper to get the ball and often cut a forlorn figure in attack as teammates were aware of his struggles in possession.

Livened up after the inclusion of Roberto in the second-half and proved a pest as he usually is, but was wasteful in front of goal and didn't do enough. Suarez should have scored after Semedo's clever pass in the second half, but instead, he struck the side netting from close-range.

Messi, who can change games in an instant, was also left frustrated. It was his clever pass into Suarez which set up the goal, although the Argentine's influence declined as United grew into the game.

Not receiving the ball as much as he would have wanted, when he did it was in deep areas. This allowed Scott McTominay and Fred ample opportunity to harry him into mistakes or playing it safe with passes, where he'd normally look to run at opponents and dribble beyond them with ease.

Despite flashes of his brilliance; the quality of passing, creativity in-and-around dangerous areas, intelligent movements which made it difficult to track him, he was clearly shaken up after Smalling's forceful challenge and only really got involved again once Sergi Roberto was introduced.

He needed more forward runners in support and against United, who were starved of possession for sustained periods, he couldn't afford to weave his magic for fear of losing the ball in a promising position and gifting the hosts a good counter-attacking chance. They defended harder and tighter, although his quality still shone through and he should've had an assist - but for Shaw's excellent recovery tackle to thwart Roberto closing in on goal.

Busquets, who has been off-the-boil in recent weeks, continued in similar vein on this occasion. His passing was sloppy and he committed a number of needless fouls - gifting United players a reason to run at him from the first whistle.

Rushing into tackles, he was booked after 15 minutes and struggled to cope against the Fred/Pogba combination play in midfield. Clearly the visitors' weak link, he improved slightly in the second-half but it still should have been him substituted, not Arthur, although fortunately from his perspective, Barca came through unscathed.