Madrid, Feb 17 (IANS) FC Barcelona and Manchester United drew a thrilling Europa League tie 2-2 in the Camp Nou on Thursday night.
Barcelona can be content with the draw, because they looked to be on the ropes with United leading 2-1, but United will be satisfied with the draw, which leaves them as favorites, especially as Barca will be without key players when they go to Old Trafford next week, reports Xinhua news agecny.
The first 45 minutes saw entertaining end-to-end football from both sides with both goalkeepers at their best to keep it scoreless.
Manchester United started strongly, with Barca hardly getting a sniff of the ball in the first 10 minutes.
Robert Lewandowski had the first chance with a powerful shot from a narrow angle that David de Gea did well to parry. At the other end Wout Weghorst found space through the middle, but Marc Andre Ter Stegen made himself big to make the block as the offside flag stayed down.
Ter Stegen then produced a flying save to palm the ball away as Marcos Rashford found space on the left of the Barca area and looked to curl home at the far post, before Jordi Alba nearly put Barca ahead after an error from Wan Bissaka, who recovered to take the sting out of the full back’s shot, allowing De Gea to palm the ball wide.
Barca suffered an injury setback just before halftime when influential midfielder Pedri went off with what looked like a muscle injury in his leg, to be replaced by Sergi Roberto.
After the display of both keepers in the first half, the first 15 minutes of the second half saw three goals, with Marcos Alonso taking advantage of some poor marking to head Barca ahead in the 50th minute.
The defender was in tears as he dedicated the goal to his father (also called Marcos Alonso), who died last week.
Manchester United wasted no time in hitting back, led by the outstanding Rashford, who controlled a pass from Fred before smashing past Ter Stegen from a narrow angle in the 52nd minute.
On the hour, Rashford took a short corner from Luke Shaw before turning Alba and hitting in a powerful cross, which flicked off Casemiro, before hitting the unfortunate Jules Kounde and ending up in the net to make it 2-1 to the visitors.
Gavi was then booked for stopping Fred’s powerful forward run by pulling his shirt and he will be suspended for next week’s return leg.
Raphinha equalized with a stroke of fortune with 15 minutes left to play. United failed to clear and his low cross evaded everyone in the area to nestle in the far corner of the net.
A frantic end to the game then saw Casemiro nearly score an own goal, before De Gea saved from Ansu Fati to end a thrilling match.
–IANS
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