Manchester United Hopeful to Quarter Finals After Incredible Play Off Against Barcelona

Manchester United and Barcelona proved their worth at the Camp nou stadium during their play off last night after a stunning 2-2 draw in the first leg. The two teams played an intense game for 90 plus minutes where they showed their capabilities of not giving any open chances for losing to the opponent.

During the first half, the first 45 minutes were wonderful. From the whistle blow at the start of the game to the players playing hard with so much intensity not giving each other an inch of space, moreover a lot of transitions were involved with very scarce midfield play.

The Barcelona team played better during the first 20 minutes where Robert Lewandowsky created a huge chance of a score but was interfered with by David De Gea. The spotlight was given to the Manchester United team in the next 20 minutes since Marcus Rashford created a huge chance that was cleverly saved by Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

A few minutes before the end of the first half, Barcelona experienced some devastating news about Pedri who suffered an injury to his right leg and was immediately replaced by Sergi Roberto. The first half outcome were no scores from both teams but it was indeed a fantastic play with lots of entertainment though the worry of the Barcelona team sustaining their intensity in the next half without Pedro was a big question.

After the half time, the play off sped off at a much crazier pace and the scores finally came. The first score came on Barcelona's end from Raphinna who cornered the ball to Marcos Alonso who positioned himself at the far post for an easy score.

Manchester united weren’t sluggish on their first score too where Marcus Rashford made a great finish leading to a score after a great pass from Fred. United were really revived by their quick response to Barcelona’s goal and fetched the second one, 30 minutes later, from Jules Kounde who turned the game around with a short corner that caught Barcelona off-guard.

At this point the Barcelona could have folded as they have in so many other matches in Europe but instead they fought their way back into the game with lots of energy trying to find the equalizer.15 minutes later, Kounde played the ball high up the pitch that found Raphinha who incredibly sent it flying and untouched into the net.

The Barcelona team really played hard and made use of their final minutes where they created so many chances of a score but De Gea was the savior of the minutes and the referee openly denied the team a penalty resulting from the hand ball by Fred inside the box.

The match was really a great play between the two teams that fought their way to the top till the last minute. Neither side deserved to lose and the tie is magnificently assured ahead of next week’s second leg at Old Trafford.