Why Barcelona Win Against United Exalted Gerard Pique

The sensational match between Barcelona and Manchester United was by far the toughest in this season.

Barcelona’s 1-0 win away at Manchester United last night was the definition of ‘timid first-leg’.

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The visitors were more than happy to keep possession and only break forward when absolutely necessary.

As for United, when they saw the ball – which was usually rescued by Fred or Scott McTominay – they were hopelessly porous in the final third.

Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku and Anthony Martial just simply could not test Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the Barca goal.

And a lot of that was down to the performance of former Red Devils defender Gerard Pique.

Gerard Pique was on a different level vs Man Utd

In case you haven’t been up to date with La Liga this season due to it being on Eleven Sports, the Spaniard is enjoying arguably his finest season in a Blaugrana shirt.

His partnership with Clement Lenglet has been the cornerstone their success and whenever he’s been absent, Barca are a different team.

They conceded four goals away at Villarreal without Pique…

And to sum up how good the Spaniard’s performance was at Old Trafford last night, Madrid-based publication Marca actually labelled Pique as the ‘world’s best defender’ in their post-match analysis.

Marca wrote: “Gerard Pique was back in England to take on his former club and put in a defensive master class, heading away balls, directing the back line and even unleashing bursts of pace to deal with the Premier League side’s counter attacks.

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“Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba couldn’t match him in the air and Marcus Rashford was unable to do so on the ground. This wasn’t a one-off, as the 32-year-old has been superb all season.

Why is that such a big deal? Well, Pique isn’t exactly the most popular player in the world over in Madrid.

His pro-Catalan views do not go down well in the Spanish capital and he’s even been booed when playing for the national team as a result.

After the game, Pique said: “It is not easy to win here. In general we did a good match. We were strong defending. It was a match with few opportunities and small details decided the match. This goal give us tranquility but after what happened with PSG we need to be concentrated.”

The second-leg in the Camp Nou promises to be a more enthralling prospect.

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