This is the text of the comment. Analysis and positions of the writer.
A sprawling, stunning and exhilarating giant encounter over two intense rides.
It was entirely appropriate, then, that the most brilliant, spinning, and perhaps funniest player of all time had the last word.
The first meeting, last week, at the Camp Nou was an event in which rhyme, reason and order were thrown out the window in favor of pure football entertainment.
Would you enjoy more peace and quiet back at Old Trafford?
Well, overall, it also felt spread out like Kloof Fred. Because neither United nor Barcelona showed direct pragmatism and control this time either.
French judicial leader Clément Turpin, who is very experienced in the context, seems to have been drawn into the whole thing anyway. Which may not have been positive.
Without calling the penalty just over a quarter of an hour later an improperly direct (on the other hand, very cheap), regardless, Turbine’s limits of things really couldn’t have been dealt with.
So when Bruno Fernandes, more or less, greeted Frenkie de Jong at Old Trafford with a ball in his stomach, it was no surprise that emotions were running high for both teams. Regardless of having a ball in the stomach or not, it felt to be expected given that the 40-year-old lawyer with the whistle had already lost control a long time ago.
way worse. This applies to everything from Turpin’s match photo to the opening of this column.
But the champ would do a disservice not to choose a more complex path of soul.
Even kept Rashford goalless
We’ll get there – but there’s also something else to celebrate.
Because that wasn’t all giddy and fun. This was good football from all angles.
Barcelona must have found it difficult to create much more than Robert Lewandowski’s 0-1 penalty, against a United defense that acted almost flawlessly. But no one can say that Franck Kessie did not take a chance in the absence of Pedri and Javi, at least in the first half.
Barcelona may have swarmed a dangerous home defense at the Camp Nou – but with Andreas Christensen in the squad, there’s no denying it’s a more stable side. So stable that even Marcus Rashford (who always scores these days) walked away from a football match at Old Trafford without a draw.
But if Marcus Rashford’s goal was to perform well for Manchester United after the end of the year, then there was another hero and decisive factor in this match.
The main role he dreamed of
He was derisively dubbed the billion-dollar “fidget spinner” when, after a long back-and-forth, he was signed for a record sum from Ajax last summer.
And so far, the ball-happy Anthony hasn’t made much of an argument for being called anything else, in general.
But he thrived in this baseless chaos.
Because when Anthony came in for the break, things started happening for Manchester United. This is when they started to take over. At that time, a few minutes after the start of the second half, Fred scored the equalizing goal against a Barcelona team that seemed to be nothing like it did before the break.
And there was a quarter of an hour left on the end of the ball with a 22-year-old (or 23-year-old if you’re reading this on Friday) Brazilian winger in the shooting position and putting billion-dollar pressure on his team. shoulders.
He was ridiculed. He’s been questioned. He rarely makes a simple decision on the soccer field.
Here, however, make the obvious, straightforward decision and win the match.
After a distinguished 2-1 finish later, Anthony finally landed the leading role he had been dreaming of in Dream Theater. The person who was recruited to have it.
One of the strongest European football teams
So what’s the bottom line to all of this?
Manchester United and Barcelona, given where they are here and now, shouldn’t have to settle for more than two Thursdays in February, I already knew last week. No reason to revise this statement is given here.
Regardless, Xavi and Barcelona must continue to ponder why they wouldn’t want it once it came to European matches rather than league matches (although, admittedly, the extension was extended). Manchester United must remain one of the brightest teams in European football and continue to inject more confidence every week. This scalp? He may have given his biggest push yet since Erik ten Hag took over at the helm last summer.
Not just for the billion dollar “fidget spinner”.
