Match Report: FC Barcelona 0-0 United (Barca win 2-0 on Penalties)

On a day where rumours circulated on twitter about possible future United players, namely Robin van Persie, tonight, attentions were absolutely focussed on the current group of United players who tested themselves against the current World Club Cup champions, FC Barcelona.

Manchester United went into this game trying to emmulate the 2-1 victory over Barcelona in a repeat of last seasons pre season friendly that took place in Washington. This time, the game took place much closer to home in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. But after the game finished 0-0 after 90 minutes, Barcelona edged out United 2-0 in the subsequent penalty shoot out.

It was a good work out for United as Barcelona carried on in the typical manner with the Catalan giants keeping the ball and passing it around. Much of the game was spent in the Manchester United half but it wasnt all Barcelona tonight. United had some good chances, including a saved Wayne Rooney penalty.

The first chance of the game fell to Andres Iniesta in the 1st minute which was saved well by the United goalkeeper, David de Gea, who made his first appearance in preseason after representing Spain in the the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Overall, it was a game of few chances, and United had a lovely piece of intricate play after around 28 minutes, but Barcelona, who had most of their players behind the ball, would not be broken down. Then the most clear cut chance of the game fell to United, as Nani broke into the box, he was brought down by Barcelona winger, Tello. Wayne Rooney stepped up to take the spot kick, but his effort was saved by Victor Valdes and Rooney scuffed the rebound.


That was to be Rooney’s last contribution of the game, as he was replaced at half time by Shinji Kagawa, who came on and made an instant impact. After 48 minutes, some wonderful play down the right saw Antonio Valencias cross fall to Danny Welbeck, who laid it off to Kagawa on the edge of the box, and Kagawa’s effort was wonderfully saved by the Barcelona substitute keeper, Pinto.

The 2nd half produced few clear cut chances after this, although David de Gea made two fantastic saves after 63 minutes, first saving an Alexis Sanchez strike with his feet, then shortly after from a Pedro header, which de Gea superbly tipped around the post.

The flow of the game was disrupted in the 2nd half as Barcelona eventually made 11 changes, whilst United made 5. Vidic was replaced at half time by Carrick who had more Centre back practice. Later Welbeck, Anderson and Ferdinand were replaced by Berbatov, Powell, and young Scott Wooton.

And after the game finished 0-0 after 90 minutes, a best of 3 penalty shoot out was won by Barcelona 2-0, after both United takers missed. Nani’s effort came off the bar, bounced off the line and came out, whilst Ashley Youngs penalty was saved by Pinto. Xavi and Pique scored Barcelona’s penalties.

Overall, a good test and a good workout for United. We probably weren’t the better side today, but then again, its not often that teams do play better than Barcelona. We gave them a run for their money and on another day would have won the game as we had a few fantastic chances.

Scholes was the man of the match this evening, but there were other good performances by United players, inparticularly, Rio Ferdinand, Anderson, Nani, Danny Welbeck and David de Gea who all had very good games as the season creeps ever closer.

The tour moves on to Germany for our final pre-season game against Hannover 96. Thanks for reading. Remember you can follow me on twitter: @benguest7

About Ben 128 Articles
27 year old football writer from South Yorkshire. United fan and Season Ticket holder in the Sir Alex Ferguson stand.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*