Barcelona one goal away from Moscow

Barça’s Champions League challenge came to end this evening away to Manchester United. They gave it their all and took every risk they had to, but once again the lack of goals proved costly. A thunderous strike from Scholes after Barça had dominated the first quarter of an hour put the home side in the driving seat, but Rijkaard’s knew that if they could equalise, they would qualify by virtue of the away goals rule. But it wasn't to be, and Barça's unbeaten record in Europe this season came to a sad end.

Scholes destroys Barça’s promising start

From the outset, it was clear that Barça were going for it in a big way. They piled on the pressure from the very first minute, and Manchester United were held back in their own half as they had been at the Camp Nou. It was the dream start, but disaster struck after 14 minutes when Scholes latched onto an unfortunate clearance from Zambrotta and slammed the ball into the top left corner from 25 metres, leaving Valdés well beaten.

End to end stuff

The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Barça, while the Red Devils burst into life and started creating all kinds of problems for the Barcelona defence. The action was relentless, and Barça picked themselves up after a brilliant individual run from Leo Messi, followed by a Park effort for United that just went wide of the post, and two dangerous shots from Deco that missed by inches.

Intensity rised every single second

The game pressed on at the same extraordinary pace, with Nani almost scoring from a header after 40 minutes, and Milito going close with a similar chance at the other end. The first 45 minutes had offered some memorable football from two great sides desperate to secure their places in Moscow, and the second half proved to be just as much of a thriller. Deco led the Barcelona midfield in style, and the United fans held their breath every time an electrifying Messi came near the ball as the visitors pressed forwards in search of that elusive equaliser.

Miracles were not supposed to happen...

Manchester United decided to withdraw and keep things tight at the back, yet still looked dangerous on the counter attack, which was how Tevez almost scored in the 57th minute, but Valdés got a hand to the ball. Henry and Bojan were sent on to add some new spark to the Barcelona attack, and the Frenchman came frustratingly close to scoring with a 78th minute header that brought out the best in Van der Sar.

As the minutes ticked by, the tension reached boiling point, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry spearheading their respective sides’ attempts. But try as they could, Barça just could not score, and the game drew to a close. They can go out of the competition with their heads held high, but it will be the Premiership side, and not FC Barcelona, that will be enjoying a trip to Moscow in May.