Manchester: Before this Thursday, Barcelona enjoyed the upper hand in their head-to-head series against Manchester United, winning 6 out of the 15 clashes across all competitions in Europe.
In the Champions League, Manchester United, the dominant force in England a couple of decades back, have met Spanish giants Barcelona 10 times, of which the Red Devils have won just once. That win came way back in 2008 when a Paul Scholes goal in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal put the English club in the final. United went on to win that final in what remains their last Champions League triumph.
They have a better record in Europa League in which the two teams have met twice. The first game ended in a 2-2 draw at Camp Nou and the match set a Europa League attendance record of 90,255 fans in the stadium. In the second leg of the same tie, Man United won 2-1 at Old Trafford.
On Thursday, just like in the first leg at Nou Camp (2-2), Erik ten Hag’s men were forced to come from behind after Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first half.
The Red Devils hit back immediately after the restart, with Fred’s quick-fire strike on the edge of the area beating Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. With just about 20 minutes to go, Antony scored the winner when the ball fell for him after a handful of blocked shots in front of the goal and he blasted it into the net.
The 2-1 win on Thursday under head coach Erik ten Hag has impressed experts and has drawn comparisons for the current coach with the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. Many experts believe that ten Hag has transformed Manchester United with his aggressive style of play, superb man-management and imaginative coaching.
Though it is too early to believe his team will be able to emulate the results of the golden years under Ferguson, United fans can be faulted for hoping that given time and enough resources, the Dutch coach can bring back the glory days.
Thursday’s result prompted former star Patrice Evra to proclaim that Ten Hag “is our trophy”.
“You can see that the players played with passion, they played for the badge, they played for the passion, they played to win. That’s the old United spirit and that won.
“I will be honest. I won’t bother about them winning trophies, I am already happy with the way things are going, especially with Erik Ten Hag. So, the trophy this year is Erik Ten Hag,” Evra told United TV after the match.
For another former Man United star Jaap Stam, Ten Hag’s game management was the key for United in the match. It was apparent in the way the United players came out on the field after half-time. While another former star Dion Dublin praised the substitutions made by Ten Haq against Barcelona that turned his team’s fortunes in the second half and United sealed a place in the Europa League Round of 16 in impressive style.
The Ten Hag effect on Manchester United is quite apparent — especially in the improved results since last season. Though in the match against Barcelona, United were not as perfect as they would have liked, but they showed that under Ten Hag, they are going in the right direction.
Last season United registered their lowest points tally of the Premier League era. However, it has been a swift turnaround and they are currently third in the Premier League behind Arsenal and Manchester City, with 49 points from 24 matches.
Ten Hag, who took over at Old Trafford in April 2022, weaved his magic in less than a year and has the Red Devils looking good to challenge for not only a place in the top four in Premier League but also for the title as they are six points behind leaders Arsenal (54) and three behind City (52),
Under Ten Hag, the club has reached the League Cup final and are one step away from ending their six-year trophy drought.
Considering the way Ten Hag fell out with talismanic striker Cristiano Ronaldo just before the month-long break for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and how the Portuguese legend left the club, a lot of people had thought that Ten Hag made a big mistake as he could have built a champion side around Ronaldo.
But the 53-year-old Dutch coach who had similarly transformed Dutch champions Ajax has built his own team around players who he feels can serve the club for many years and now looks set to lead them back to the good old glory days.
No wonder, many fans and experts are calling Erik Ten Hag Ferguson 3.0.
–IANS
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