Five key stats from Barcelona 2-2 Manchester United

Barcelona and Manchester United played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League playoffs at Spotify Camp Nou on Thursday night.

After an entertaining first period with no goals, Barcelona took the lead early in the second half through Marcos Alonso, only to see Marcus Rashford level up minutes later.

The Catalans were then pegged back as some brilliance from Rashford down the right flank forced an own goal from Jules Kounde, with Manchester United going ahead.

But, Raphinha was at hand to equalise for the Blaugrana and ensure that they went into the second leg at Old Trafford on equal footing as they look to book a place in the Round of 16.

Alonso was a surprise starter for Barça last night, with Xavi opting to choose the Spaniard ahead of the in-form Andreas Christensen. And the ex-Chelsea ace got his name on the scoresheet.

With the goal, Alonso has now scored in each of his last two Champions League/Europa League games (2 goals), as many as in his previous 46 appearances in the competitions.

Meanwhile, Kounde’s own goal was the first Barcelona had scored in Europe since April 2015 (Jeremy Mathieu vs PSG). The Frenchman has now scored two own goals since arriving in Spain, both of which have come in his last four games.

After a slow start to life as a Barcelona player, Raphinha is starting to come into his own in recent times and once again produced a clutch display, scoring and assisting a goal apiece against Manchester United on Thursday night.

It meant that Raphinha became the La Liga player to have both scored and assisted a goal in more games (four) across all competitions this season.

It was pretty evident that Barcelona were put under a lot of pressure by Manchester United last night, with the Premier League side creating a host of chances.

Indeed, Barcelona faced as many as 18 shots against Manchester United on Thursday – the highest they have faced in a home game this season.

Meanwhile, Xavi’s sub-par record in home matches in Europe as the manager of Barcelona continued. Under the 43-year-old, the Blaugrana have played eight European ties at Spotify Camp Nou, but won only one (D5 L2).