Barcelona set up in their classic 4-3-3 formation, with the
line-up as follows: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet,
Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Arthur; Messi, Suarez, Dembele.


Manchester United also set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with
their line-up as follows; De Gea; Young, Smalling, Lindelof,
Jones; McTominay, Fred, Pogba; Rashford, Lukaku, Dalot.


As expected, United's plan was to sit back as deep as
possible, to absorb pressure and to hit Barcelona on the
counter attack with the pace of Rashford, Lukaku and Dalot.

The problem was that the home side held on to the ball with
unerring accuracy and United were not getting any decent
opportunities, whilst Barca were patiently probing, but the
away side were holding firm.
Until Barcelona produced a moment of magical play in the
35th minute, that is.

Luis Suarez dropped off the United central defenders,
drifting into a number ten position and played a one-two with
Ousmane Dembele, before playing a first time pass into Ivan
Rakitic, who had made a great run in-behind Victor Lindelof.

The Croatian didn't even need to control the pass, such was
the weight of it, as he shot first time and past David De Gea
to make it 1-0 on the night, and 2-0 on aggregate.

United now needed two goals to turn the tie around, going
into the second-half.

Solskjaer's side had a little more joy as the second-half got
underway, but they produced nothing that tested Ter Stegen
in the Barcelona goal.

United would pay for their lack of creativity, when Lionel
Messi made it 2-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate in the
71st minute, after a lovely assist from Suarez again.

With the away side now needing three goals to progress,
their heads dropped and the impossible dream was fading
away.

To rub salt in the wounds of the United fans, Suarez bagged
himself a goal in the 90th minute, after a dreadful mistake
by Lindelof presented the ball to the former Liverpool man,
who made no mistake.

As the full-time match stats show, Barcelona were in
complete control, as United had just one shot on target and
failed to even earn a corner kick.

United's worst player on the night was David De Gea, who
conceded three goals.

United's best player was Lindelof, despite his poor mistake
that led to Suarez's goal late on.

Here are the full-time match result as Solskjaer took a
massive risk by going 3-4-3 towards the end of the game.