The last time Man Utd played Barcelona at Old Trafford
There is nothing to separate Manchester United and Barcelona - not even away goals - following their 2-2 draw at Camp Nou in the first leg of a Europa League knockout playoff.
Everything is to play for as the two resurgent giants prepare to meet at Old Trafford for the second leg this week. A place in the last 16 is at stake, but it is not an understatement to suggest that whoever prevails here will be among the favourites to lift the trophy in May.
The first leg in Catalonia swung this way and that, with Marcos Alonso giving Barcelona an early second half lead that almost instantly wiped out by Marcus Rashford. A Jules Kounde own goal then handed United the advantage until Raphinha equalised with around 15 minutes left.
It was a fantastic game and evoked strong memories of the iconic 3-3 draws at Camp Nou and Old Trafford between the club way back in the autumn of 1998.
The last meeting at Old Trafford was an altogether different affair.
Man Utd 0-1 Barcelona - Champions League quarter-final first leg (10/04/19)
United and Barcelona were paired together in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2018/19, a first meeting since the 2011 final at Wembley.
Barça, then led by Ernesto Valverde, had ultimately made light work of Lyon in their last 16 tie. United, meanwhile had pulled off an unlikely aggregate victory over Paris Saint-Germain, with Marcus Rashford scoring a famous 94th minute penalty in the French capital to win the tie on away goals.
By the time, Barcelona arrived at Old Trafford for the quarter-finals, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been handed a permanent three-year contract. Although, having overseen great results as a caretaker, United only won twice more in the rest of the season and this Barcelona game wasn’t one of them.
This also wasn’t the vintage elite Barça that a wholly different United had faced in 2011, but they still had Lionel Messi, and other survivors from 2011, as well as several from their 2015 Champions League winning side too. In true Barcelona fashion, they dominated the ball at Old Trafford.
Messi was surprisingly quiet and United worked hard to keep him and others under wraps, albeit at the detriement of their own attacking, resulting in zero shots on target from those in red - the first time in 14 years since facing AC Milan in 2005 that had happened in a Champions League game.
David de Gea made saves from Messi and Philippe Coutinho, yet it was an early own goal from Luke Shaw that decided the leg. Luis Suarez headed the ball across goal at the far post and it deflected in off the United defender. The goal was initially flagged offside, but VAR intervened to make it stand.
Man Utd 0-1 Barcelona - starting XIs
Man Utd (3-5-2): De Gea; Lindelof, Smalling, Shaw; Young, McTominay, Fred, Pogba, Dalot (Lingard 74'); Rashford (Pereira 85'), Lukaku (Martial 68')
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen. Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets (Alena 90+3'), Arthur (Roberto 66'); Messi, Suarez, Coutinho (Vidal 65')
Solskjaer went with a back three for this one, with Chris Smalling playing one his final games for the club. Romelu Lukaku also didn't last much longer in a United shirt, while season proved to be the best of Paul Pogba during his time at the club - not that he really showed it here.
Somewhat bizarrely in a game against Barcelona, Scott McTominay shone as United's best player.
For Barcelona, this side was kind of stuck in the middle of the great teams of the early 2010s and the troubled years that were to soon follow. A lot of money was spent on Coutinho, Arthur, Nelson Semedo and Clement Lenglet, but none managed to carry on the success of those before them.
On this edition of The Promised Land, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders & Rob Blanchette preview Man Utd's Europa League clash with Barcelona, the role Jadon Sancho could have to play, his recent form & more. If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!