Manchester United 3-1 Barcelona
• Rooney 8, Lingard 65, Januzaj 90; Rafinha 90
David de Gea and Ángel Di María featured in the tale of two Manchester Unitedplayers whose unclear futures were highlighted by this 3-1 win against Barcelona. De Gea, who is a target for Real Madrid, donned the red livery for the first time since being injured during a draw with Arsenal in last season’s penultimate game. Di María was due to join Louis van Gaal’s squad after this match, yet afterwards senior executives refused to dismiss reports he is on the brink of moving to Paris Saint-Germain. It later emerged the forward had not boarded the plane to San Jose as expected.
The prevailing focus of the United manager has to be the side, of course. When this encounter kicked off the clock started ticking on the final 180 minutes of match action before the Premier League begins on 8 August. After this outing only Wednesday’s closing tour match against PSG remains until Tottenham Hotspur visit Old Trafford. This moved Van Gaal to state the strongest XI he could select was to contest the opening hour against Barça and PSG, after previously selecting two different outfield teams. So out strode De Gea, Matteo Darmian, Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Daley Blind, Morgan Schneiderlin, Michael Carrick, Memphis Depay, Juan Mata, Ashley Young and Wayne Rooney, the captain.
Bastian Schweinsteiger’s minor injury prevented Van Gaal from playing him. Yet within eight minutes the Dutchman could smile as United took the lead. This was simple stuff. Young floated over a corner, Adriano failed to clear and Rooney headed home beyond Marc André ter Stegen. It would have been merely the equaliser if Luis Suárez’s earlier free-kick had been precisely guided. Instead, the No9 bent his effort beyond United’s wall but hit De Gea’s left post.
The Spaniard appeared sharp considering his shortage of football. When Rafinha put Sergi Roberto in De Gea made a fine save from the ensuing shot. This came after the 24-year-old had taken a high ball and was followed by similar impressive work in front of his posts.
Andrés Iniesta does not lack quality, either. An illustration came with a drag-back-and-heeled pass that had the 68,416 inside Levi’s Stadium roaring as Jordi Alba raced on to the ball. United were opened up and fortunate the left-back’s cross did no material harm.
United were proving as good in the slick-and-quick department. If this is to be the XI Van Gaal sends out to face Tottenham he could be confident. Young produced a slide-rule delivery that put Rooney clear. The No10 swerved away from Ter Stegen but the angle defeated him. Next up it was Mata who was jammed in traffic and seemed certain to lose the ball. Yet after dazzling footwork and a jink of the hips trouble was left behind and a searing cross-field ball to Young put him in a menacing position. Luke Shaw made an overlap the winger ignored before he fired a shot at Ter Stegen that came close to doubling the lead.
Despite missing Neymar and Lionel Messi due to a post-Copa América break, there was still enough quality in this Barça side to cause problems. Iniesta was the chief tormentor and his ability to ping passes to colleagues as if placing the ball by hand at their feet came close to fashioning a response on several occasions.
Yet when Baldomero Toledo blew for the break United deserved the lead. If the 4-3-3 Van Gaal says he wishes to operate is still yet to appear – here was a 4-2-3-1 again – the manager did leave the same men on for the second half’s start, as he had said.
Early on, Depay was put in by Rooney but could not score. The 21-year-old shows flashes of skill and flair that promise much and the sense is consistency can soon come. The high mark Depay could aim for is Suárez, who is always a threat. One of his less heralded qualities is the strength when wriggling. Around the hour mark Blind appeared to have seen off Suárez with a timely intervention as he neared De Gea’s goal. But Suárez bounced up from the floor to take a pass from Pedro, who remains a desired acquisition for Van Gaal, to find goal but the strike was ruled offside.
After 62 minutes came the change from Van Gaal. The entire side was replaced which meant Marouane Fellaini had his first action of the trip, the Belgian benefiting from Schweinsteiger’s injury.
Almost instantly United doubled their lead. Tyler Blackett rolled the ball into space in Barça’s area and Jesse Lingard, who always shines on tour, finished. Rafinha then pulled one back before Adnan Januzaj slotted home in response, almost instantly.
As the match ended the happy truth for Van Gaal was United deserved this third win from their three Stateside outings. And the side is improving. The manager could not wish for much more.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): De Gea (Johnstone, 62); Darmian (Valenica, 62), Jones (McNair, 62), Blind (Smalling, 62), Shaw (Blackett, 62); Schneiderlin (Herrera, 62), Carrick (Fellaini, 62); Mata (Lingard, 62) Depay (Perreira, 62), Young (Januzaj, 62); Rooney (Wilson)
Barcelona (4-3-3): Ter Stegen; Adriano, Pique, Vermaelen (Mathieu, 60), Alba; Iniesta, Busquets, Roberto; Rafinha, Suárez (El Haddadi, 67), Rodriguez
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