Barcelona narrowly edged Manchester United to take the fist advantage in their Champions League quarter-final after Luke Shaw’s own goal gave the Spanish giant a 1-0 first-leg win at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
Shaw deflected a Luis Suarez header into his own net after 12 minutes, handing the Catalans a vital away goal that is likely to make them clear favourites in the return leg.
United had an amazing comeback against Paris St Germain in their previous round and Barcelona will take nothing for granted, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team will struggle to repeat the trick against a side with a fearsome home record.
“We played a good team,” said Solskjaer. “We know you have to defend a lot without the ball and you might be tired when you get the chance yourself. We go there with one thing in my mind, we have to score.”
Barcelona have not lost at home for 30 games in the Champions League since 2013 and will be take the second leg against United at Camp Nou very seriously.
With Paul Pogba failing to impact the game, United were left trying to hit Barca on the break or from set-pieces and too often they lacked the precision to make the most of the few openings that fell their way.
Ashley Young lost possession a total of 32 times and attempted 11 crosses with 0 meeting their target. No player on the pitch lost possession more or had a worse crossing rate than him.
The crucial away goal was well-worked. Sergio Busquets found Lionel Messi with a clever ball into the area and the Argentine carved out space on the left to deliver a lofted cross to former Liverpool striker Suarez at the back post.
Solskjaer’s team had struggled to get a foothold in the game during the opening 45 minutes, but they were much improved after the break, applying plenty of pressure without creating any clear chances.
Barcelona could have added a second had Suarez not fired into the side-netting from a promising position after a clever through ball from Nelson Semedo and then De Gea did well to foil Jordi Alba’s low drive — again with his legs.
The loss was United’s fourth in their last five games in all competitions.
“We did as well as we could against Messi, kept our shape well. It could have gone both ways,” said Solskjaer.
“I don’t think we hit the target and that’s a disappointment. We go there with work to be done but chances,” he added.
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde was pleased with the result, especially given the club’s previous failure to win at Old Trafford in four earlier meetings in European competition.
“Given the atmosphere and the type of team they are and that this is the Champions League it’s very hard to win here, it was a very difficult game and things were complicated for us at a few moments,” he said.
