Man United couldn’t perform another miracle away from home in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
A goal down from the home leg last week, Man United were spanked 3-0 by Barcelona at the Nou Camp, and it laid bare the size of the task facing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this summer.
Lionel Messi was the star of the show, scoring the first two goals, and generally putting on a masterclass to justify his tag as best in the world.
Gary Lineker was suitably impressed and responded to a video clip of Messi leaving Phil Jones for dead.
He picked the ball up, went past Jones, then spun him twice before putting in a delicious ball for a dangerous Barcelona attack.
Lineker couldn’t help piling into Jones saying, “Spun Phil Jones so many times here that his head bandage came loose.”
Spun Phil Jones so many times here that his head bandage came loose. https://t.co/5fl4BRPdhR
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 16, 2019
Lineker is a huge Messi fan and had already praised the pint-sized Barca player, saying, “Watching Messi live makes life worth living”.
Watching Messi live makes life worth living. ?
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 16, 2019
OPINION
This wasn’t pretty for Man United fans or neutrals tuning in hoping to see a competitive game. Messi ran rings around Man United, and Phil Jones in particular, although the United defender didn’t have a terrible game. He was wearing a head bandage after an injury he picked up in the West Ham game on Saturday, and did his best against possibly the world’s best. But the fact is, Messi is on a completely different level to him and he was never going to be able to do much about it if the attacker was on top form. Man United have to re-focus on the top-four now and that’s looking tough. They’re currently in sixth spot in the league, two points behind Arsenal in fourth, and they’ve got a huge game against Man City at Old Trafford next week. Ironically, that’s a game that could go a long way towards handing the title to one of their rivals – Liverpool or Man City. United fans would probably think City are the lesser of two evils.