Europa League: Barcelona, Man United play 2-2 draw
Barcelona left it late to edge Manchester United to an interesting 2-2 draw in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League playoff at the Camp Nou Thursday evening.
Both teams came into the match on an impressive run. The La Liga giants are on an 11-game winning streak across all competitions while the Red Devils were yet to lose any of their last six games across all competitions too.
The first half ended goalless but not without flair by both sides. But the goalkeepers of both sides were the star of the half, shutting down shots after shots.
David De gea was the first to be called to action and impressively denied Robert Lewandoski’s effort. Afterwards, it was Marc Andre ter Stegen’s turn to help Barcelona and came through for the Catalonians to deny Wout Weghorst’s shot from close range. Moments later, the German goalkeeper also pulled off an incredible save to stop a curler from Marcus Rashford.
Within the opening two minutes of the second half, former Leeds United player Raphinha latched his trademarked volley which was comfortably collected by De Gea. Jadon Sancho missed a clear chance from close range afterwards.
In the 50th minute, Marcos Alonso scored with a header from a corner kick to give Barcelona the lead before in-form Marcus Rashford continued with his sensational scoring spree to level the game for Man United barely two minutes later.
United surprisingly grabbed the lead for the first time in the 57th minute through Jules Kounde’s own goal from Luke Shaw and Rashford’s tricky play from a corner kick.
In the cusp of the encounter, Raphinha scored from a well taken curler with Lewandoski distracting a Man United defender and De Gea as the ball made its way into net.
Barcelona launched several attacking plays in the last minutes in an attempt to find a late winner but United were able to suck up the pressure thanks to De Gea, who was fantastic throughout the match as both teams settled for a draw.
The second leg of the fixture will take place at Old Trafford in a week’s time with the eventual winner scaling through to the UEFA Europa League round of 16.
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