It was a comparison designed to go down well with the Manchester United support. The scoreline from Anfield had scarcely escaped their notice but Erik ten Hag felt he would reference it anyway. “Barcelona are the leader of La Liga, eight points ahead of Real Madrid,” he said. “We have seen what Real Madrid did this week.” There has been an Anglo-Spanish double bill between the two most decorated clubs in each country. Real Madrid scored five at Anfield. Barcelona exited the Europa League at Old Trafford.
And if that reflects the very different halves of their record, departing two European competitions while conceding an average of two goals a game while runaway leaders in their homeland after letting in only seven all season, it scarcely detracted from the feat. “We have the potential to beat good teams,” Ten Hag said. “We can beat [Manchester] City, we can beat Arsenal, we can beat Liverpool.” Indeed, his United have beaten each. Defeating the probable Spanish champions, however, ranked as his biggest win so far. “Oh yes, I think so,” said Ten Hag.
