adminTHEY are two of the giants of world football, followed by hundreds of millions of fans around, and at the turn of the last decade, they were sitting on top of the global tree.
Manchester United and Barcelona battled in two UEFA Champions League finals in 2009 and 2011, with the Catalan giants winning on both occasions and Lionel Messi on target in both games.
The Red Devils had also captured the Champions League title in 2008 after edging Chelsea 6-5 on penalties in their Moscow showdown.
But, times have changed.
Messi wants to leave Barca, would possibly have gone had it not been for some technicalities, while Paul Pogba has not made it a secret that, one day, he wants to play for Real Madrid.
United lost at the weekend, their third loss at Old Trafford in the league this season, after a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Arsenal, with the Gunners winning at OT, in the league, for the first time in 14 years.
Barca were held to a 1-1 draw with Messi reacting angrily, at the end of the match, by kicking the ball towards the match officials.
The statistics tell a similar tale.
United are in 15th place on the English Premiership table, although they have a game in hand over some of the teams, with just two wins and a draw in their six games.
The Red Devils are just six points better than bottom club Burnley and are nine points adrift of leaders and champions Liverpool.
Barca have eight points from their six matches and find themselves in 12th place, five points better than the bottom club Valladolid, and nine points adrift of leaders Real Sociedad.
On Sunday Pogba admitted he made a “stupid mistake” to give Arsenal their victory at Manchester United.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer felt Sunday’s Old Trafford contest had “0-0 all over it” until Pogba needlessly lunged in on Hector Bellerin midway through the second half.
Bellerin appeared to be in a position of no danger when Pogba moved in and succeeded only in kicking the Spaniard, drawing the penalty which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted to settle the game.
“Maybe I was a bit out of breath and it made me do this stupid mistake,” the France international told BBC Sport.
“I felt like I touched him a bit and I knew I was in the box. I shouldn’t have given a penalty away like that.
“I’m not the best defensively in the box but I can learn and work on that.”
It was the third time Pogba, 27, had conceded a penalty during Solskjaer’s time as United manager. No-one else has conceded more than one.
“Paul has held his hand up,” said Solskjaer, who was overseeing his 100th game as United boss.
“He knows he could and should have done better in that instance. He knows if he stays on his feet it will be OK because the boy isn’t going anywhere.”
Pogba’s mistake will again attract negative headlines around a player who draws extreme reactions, both positive and negative.
No-one can ever know what Pogba’s future would have been had the coronavirus pandemic not ripped through the financial structure of Europe’s major clubs.
Even taking out the penalty against Arsenal, he combined mixed statistics of good passing accuracy – 87.5%, the best of United’s attacking players — with the fact he lost possession on 15 occasions, with no team-mate giving the ball away more frequently.
Scott McTominay was the only team-mate to cover more ground than Pogba’s 10.26km, but there were no shots, a poor return for someone essentially viewed as an attacking threat.
“We have to do better, the team and myself, but it starts with me,” Pogba said.
“I cost us the goal today with the penalty but it was a poor team performance. We need to do a lot better.”
Barcelona are enduring their worst start to a La Liga season in nearly two decades, but the evergreen David Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic continue to flourish, helping Real Sociedad and AC Milan top their respective leagues.
Barca’s poor form in La Liga is that of a club in crisis, which they very much are off the field with president Josep Maria Bartomeu resigning last week.
On Saturday they were held to a 1-1 draw at 10-man Alaves, despite Antoine Griezmann getting his first goal of the season.
Barca have now gone four La Liga games without a win.
Ronald Koeman’s side are enduring Barcelona’s worst start to a league season in 18 years, when another Dutchman was in charge. Louis van Gaal was sacked midway through that campaign in which they finished sixth.
No team has ever won La Liga after taking just eight points from their first six matches in the era of three points for a win. Lionel Messi has just one La Liga goal this season, and that was a penalty.
Former Barcelona boss, Quique Setien, says Messi is “difficult to manage.”
The 62-year-old was sacked by the Spanish football side in August after taking charge of just 25 games.
Following his stint at the Nou Camp, Setien has lifted the lid on what Messi is like behind closed doors.
The Spaniard claims the 33-year-old can be hard work despite being very “reserved”.
According to El Pais, Setien said: “I think Messi is the best of all time.
“There have been other great players who have been great, but the continuity that this boy has had throughout the years has not been had by anyone.
“Leo is difficult to manage. Who am I to change him! If they have accepted him as he is for years and have not changed him.
“There’s another facet beyond just the player and it’s more difficult to manage.
“Much more difficult. It’s something inherent in many athletes that can be seen in the Michael Jordan documentary (“The Last Dance”).’’ — The Sun/SuperSport.
Online Reporter