Five key stats from Manchester United 2-1 Barcelona

Barcelona saw their journey in European competition for the 2022/23 season come to a screeching halt last night, thanks to a 2-1 defeat (4-3 on aggregate) to Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League knockout playoffs.

With a spot in the Round of 16 on the line, Barça took an early lead through Robert Lewandowski. But Xavi’s men could not cope with the second-half onslaught from United at Old Trafford as goals from Fred and Antony took them across the line.

It was yet another disappointing outing in Europe for Barcelona, who just cannot seem to get it right on the continental stages.

Indeed, Barça have been eliminated from European competitions a whopping four times in 1 year and 77 days.

They were knocked out of the group stages of the Champions League by Bayern Munich in 2021, which was followed by a quarter-final exit in the Europa League at the hands of Eintracht Frankfurt in April last year.

They suffered another group stage elimination in the Champions League in October last year, before yesterday’s exit from the Europa League.

The result also meant that Xavi’s poor record in European matches continued as the Barcelona manager has now won only four out of 16 games in continental competitions.

While there were some positives to take for Barcelona from the night, the result once again raised concerns over their recent performances in big games in Europe.

The Blaugrana have just won one of their last 15 games in Europe against teams from the top five European leagues, losing nine of those (D5), as many defeats as in their 50 previous such games (W31 D10 L9).

Barcelona’s lead atop the La Liga standings has been built on a strong, solid defensive base. However, throughout the campaign, they have struggled to replicate those performances in the continental stages.

Indeed, Barcelona have conceded just seven goals in 22 league games this season in La Liga, keeping a whopping 17 clean sheets. However, in Europe, Xavi’s side have shipped in 16 goals in just eight matches (UCL+UEL), while managing zero shut-outs.

Looking at the positives, Lewandowski’s strike against Manchester United meant he has now scored 25 goals in 30 matches in all competitions for Barcelona this term. It is the 12th successive campaign in which the Pole has netted 25 or more goals at the club level.