Champions League in the Europa League – Sport – Kommersant

In the first play-off match of the Europa Football League, the famous “Barcelona” and no less famous “Manchester United” tied 2:2. This meeting took place at the Camp Nou, and now in a week the rivals will continue to fight for a ticket to the 1/8 finals of the tournament at Old Trafford.

The Spanish press called the confrontation between Barcelona and Manchester United “worthy of the Champions League”, but the giants of European football met only in the play-off round of the Europa League. The Catalans, who are now confidently leading the national championship with a lead of eight points from Real Madrid, we recall, took only third place in the group stage of the Champions League and qualified for the tournament with a lower rank. The Manchester team got into the joints, because they lost the first line in the group to Real Sociedad, who reached the 1/8 finals of the Europa League directly. Although they have been looking quite powerful lately, having won 12 victories in 15 matches after a pause for the World Cup, and their striker Marcus Rashford has already scored 13 goals during this period.

Barcelona head coach Javi Hernandez said at the pre-match press conference that both teams are probably at their best this season, and specifically noted the excellent work done by the Manchester manager. And Eric ten Hag said that Barça are showing their best football in several years, excellent defense, and most importantly, ball control, following the precepts of the great Johan Cruyff. After such an exchange of courtesies, it was all the more interesting to see what the wards Xavi and ten Haga would show on the field.

The teams immediately made it clear that they were focused on the attack and were not going to be cautious, especially for the guests, who acted even more actively in the debut. But the hosts delivered the first shot on goal, when Robert Lewandowski burst into the penalty area at speed and tested the strength of goalkeeper David de Gea. Gradually, Barcelona began to have more possession of the ball, and United seemed not averse to calming the game. True, as soon as the situation allowed, Manchester exploded and created a super moment with the release of Wout Weghorst “one to zero”. However, goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen prevented the Dutch striker from making the score 1-0. And then the German also scored a spectacular save, eliminating the threat from Rashford.

At the end of the first half, Barça also got a goal-scoring opportunity when Jordi Alba boldly went into pressure from someone else’s penalty area and shot from under Aron Wan-Bissaki. The English defender still managed to block, and together with de Gea, they fought off the annoying Catalan. And in general, the hosts managed to extinguish the attacking activity of the opponent, who was closer to the goal before the break. Unless one of the leaders of the current Barcelona, ​​20-year-old Pedri, was injured, and Xavi had to change him already in the 41st minute. Well, the effective actions of the team, as it turned out, were postponed to the second half of the meeting.

After the resumption of the match, the zeros on the scoreboard did not last long. In the 50th minute, the blue garnets earned a corner, and the central defender Marcos Alonso, having won the position at the far post, shot with his head into the near corner, which De Gea did not have time to close. But as soon as the Camp Nou stands finished celebrating the success of their club, Rushford ran away from the same Alonso and from an acute angle let the ball under Ter Stegen, who also did not help out in that episode. And already in the 59th minute, Manchester led 2:1. Again, Rashford took the initiative, played a corner with a partner outside the box and, instead of the usual serve, performed a sharp cross, which was closed by the bewildered Barca defender Jules Kunde. Then Rashford forced Kunde to foul on the verge of a penalty, before the appointment of which was not enough for a few centimeters.

It seemed that the Catalans swam. In addition, Gavi ran into a yellow card, which means that he will miss the second leg due to disqualification. But in the 76th minute, the guests made an unforgivable loss near their own penalty area, and Rafinha punished them. In fact, the Brazilian twirled the ball in the direction of Lewandowski with the expectation that the Polish scorer would substitute a “stick”, and he missed for once, but still disoriented the goalkeeper and to some extent helped his teammate score.

Moreover, Barcelona almost pulled out a victory in the end, which took place under her dictation. Ansu Fati, who replaced him, could very well be the same joker in Xavi’s deck. Although the most dangerous moment came after Casemiro’s unexpected shot on his own goal, when only the bar saved Manchester from the third missed goal. As a result – 2:2, and now everything will be decided in the return match on the field of the English club.

Alexander Ilyin