After a goalless 90 minutes, 2 missed penalties from Nani and Young saw Barcelona beat Manchester United in Gothenburg.
Facing Barcelona for the second summer in a row, Manchester United approached the game with real intent, fielding a strong team in an attempt to put a real show against Tito Vilanova’s side. There was another run out for Nemanja Vidic as well as appearances from big guns like Rooney, Scholes, Evra and Welbeck whilst Barca also fielded Messi, Iniesta, Puyol and Alves.
It was a closely contested tie with Messi and Iniesta working in tandem to create openings for the Spanish side. Messi amongst others went close but wayward finishing, close attention from United and good work from De Gea ensured the game remained level.
As the 1st half drew to a close, Nani was felled in the box by a rash Tello challenge and the ref pointed to the spot. Up stepped Rooney but the striker saw his attempt from 12 yards saved and then fluffed his follow up.
As the second half started both teams made a number of changes, notably United introduced Shinji Kagawa and immediately looked the side looked more forceful. The Japanese midfielder went close but Pinto was equal to his attempt and diverted the shot out for a corner, Kagawa threatened Barca’s goal almost immediately but again Pinto diverted his attempt over the bar and out for a corner.
2 more faces introduced in the second half began to influence the tide of the game, but unfortunately they were Barca players, as Xavi and Fabregas started pulling strings. But despite their best efforts Barca couldn’t find the net. De Gea was on hand to deny both Sanchez and Pedro and by the time 90 minutes was up the scored remain 0-0.
Although a pre season ‘silverware’ was to be had so the two team engaged in a best of 3 penalty shoot out. Both Nani and Ashley Young missed their efforts whilst Xavi and Pique fund the back of the net, handing Barca the victory.
I wanted to video