The two mistakes Manchester United made against Barcelona and how they can be fixed

Manchester United lost to Barcelona 3-0 in the Champions League quarterfinals in the week and despite the scoreline, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can look back at the mistakes made and think “what if”. But how can they be fixed?

Tuesday night was a bitterly disappointing one for Manchester United fans. If PSG was a mountain to climb then the tie against Barcelona felt like a mission to Mars.

Despite having less of a deficit to overturn this time, United were not in good form heading into the match. Scraping past West Ham on Saturday evening gave fans little comfort knowing the Nou Camp beckoned.

Frustratingly, it wasn’t as if Barcelona blew Manchester United away. Yes, of course, they played very well and won three-nil, but you just have to look at the goals scored to understand why a United fan would have left the Nou Camp wondering, “what if”.

Within the first few minutes of the match, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men should have been three-nil up themselves. Marcus Rashford made a brilliant run entering the box on the left, however, he could only toe-poke onto Marc-André ter Stegen‘s crossbar.

Not long later, some great build-up from the Red Devils gave Rashford room on the edge of Barcelona’s box. This time he slipped in Scott McTominay whose first touch let him down before he had a chance to unleash a shot.

Completing a hat-trick of opportunities, Rashford found himself bearing down on goal again after the ball broke nicely in central midfield. One-on-one against former red Gerard Piqué, the Spaniard shepherded Rashford well. United’s number 10 managed to create a yard of space for a shot, but slipped at the vital moment, giving Ter Stegen a surprisingly easily collection.

Dithering on the ball in his own half, Ashley Young gave the ball away to the one man in the world you definitely don’t want to, Lionel Messi. Luis Suarez‘ run opened up space for the magician to run as both Chris Smalling and Phil Jones sensed danger. But it was too late and vintage Messi curled the ball home.

Suddenly a good start had turned into a bad one. However, the situation hadn’t changed, United still needed two goals to progress. Oh wait, Barca now only need three!

Minutes later Messi made it 2-0. And once again he benefited from a huge Manchester United mistake. David de Gea doesn’t need me to tell him that it was an appalling, albeit uncharacteristic error. But this time, you could see the confidence and assurance drain from the players in pink.

Phillipe Coutinho made it three in the second half with an unstoppable world-class curler into the top corner of the net. But by that point, the game was gone and Barcelona were playing with “Ole!” backing music after every pass.

What mistakes were made?

Going away to Barcelona is difficult. They are unbeaten in 32 of their 34 games against English clubs at home, winning 21 of them. But one thing an away side must ensure they do, is to be ruthless, clinical, take your chances, because you don’t get many.

That’s defensively as well as offensively. Tuesday night proved that.

Rashford and McTominay had to take their early chances, they were massive moments in the match despite being so early on. Had they done so United could have been ahead in the tie let alone just the match.

Neither the attack or defence were ruthless in their decision-making on Tuesday night. United didn’t finish their chances and they made silly errors defensively. That led to Barcelona winning the match with ease without getting out of second gear all night; individuals had handed them the game on a plate.

How do you stop individual mistakes?

It’s a difficult question to answer. As is trying to work out how a striker can perform so poorly at one club and then move to another to put in near-perfect performances week in, week out.

In United’s case, they have not been in great form heading into the match. That didn’t show in the first 10 minutes with the chances they created, but a ravenous in-form Marcus Rashford would have taken at least one of those chances.

Therefore, had Solskjaer’s men arrived in Spain top of the Premier League, in great form and the belief they could win, we may not have seen chances missed and mistakes made.

It also goes without saying that United need additions. Solskjaer needs to be backed in the next few transfer windows in order to bring the right players to the club. Young players with world-class potential.

There a number of young players in the squad who need to be given the platform to perform ahead of next season now. Diogo Dalot, Fred, Andreas Pereira and McTominay all should be starting games of football for United in order to give them the best possible chance of succeeding next campaign.

Players will still make mistakes, but in the long-term, it will prove beneficial. Better quality of players, singing of the same hymn sheet, all gunning for the same goal, would not have made so many mistakes in one match.