Man Utd will have to overcome a 1-0 deficit in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Barcelona next week after a struggle at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils certainly had their moments and looked more proactive in their approach to the game, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer saw his side fail to register a single shot on target over the 90 minutes.
As seen in the tweet below, that’s the first time that they’ve failed to do so in a Champions League game since a clash with AC Milan in March 2005, and so they have a clear area in which to improve ahead of the return leg at the Nou Camp.
An own goal from Luke Shaw was all that separated the two sides in the first leg, but ultimately it’s a vital away goal for the Catalan giants who will now be heavy favourites to advance to the last four.
Particularly if United can’t be clinical in the final third, they could struggle even more away from home, but perhaps the pace and quality that they have on the counter attack with the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial could prove to be crucial.
Time will tell if they are able to turn things around, but with Barcelona likely to try and dominate possession again and limit United’s ability to settle into a rhythm and get at their backline, Solskjaer will have to come up with an effective tactical plan to exploit any weaknesses he spotted in the first meeting.
For all their commitment and work-rate though, it simply didn’t translate into establishing themselves as a genuine attacking threat to Barcelona with Marc Andre ter-Stegen finishing the night untested.
2005 – Manchester United have failed to have a shot on target in a Champions League game for the first time since March 2005, in a 0-1 defeat at AC Milan. Timid. #MUNBAR
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 10, 2019
