Barcelona have exited European competition at the first time of asking for the second time this season after a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in the second leg of the Europa League knockout round tie.
It all started so well for Barcelona, who took the lead after 18 minutes. Alejandro Balde has fouled inside the Man Utd penalty area by Bruno Fernandes, and Robert Lewandowski netted, despite the best efforts of David De Gea.
Barcelona dominated the first half, and will have felt aggrieved to have scored just once in the opening 45 minutes. That came back to bite them, as they conceded less than 90 seconds into the second period. Fernandes played out Fred, who slotted the ball past Marc-Andre Ter Stegen to make it 1-1.
Barcelona never recovered from that setback, and they fell behind with 20 minutes remaining when Antony placed a lovely effort beyond Ter Stegen to give the hosts the lead.
Lewandowski had a late effort cleared off the line by former Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane, but aside from that, Xavi Hernandez’s side offered very little in the second half, and they were ultimately defeated.
The focus of Xavi and the Barcelona squad will now shifted solely to La Liga and the Copa del Rey after another disappointing European night this season.
Image via EFE
That was a well spent 600mil+ in assets.
Maybe bribELona should drop down a tier to some third-rated competition to finally bring home some money so debt collectors won’t have to smash their kneecaps.