Barcelona achieved a remarkable result from Old Trafford heading into the quarter-final lap and thus proved to have learned their lesson. Because ten goals conceded in three recent European outings and as dangerous as today's (PSG, Juve and Roma) caused Valverde to decide to close the tap of madness, prioritizing victory more than ever against good play, and with a Manchester that He put up resistance but that was too harmless. There are still 90 minutes. But what 90 minutes, in a steamroller called Camp Nou.

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This United is not that capital team of the quadruple confrontation between the Red Devils and the Catalans between 2008 and 2011. Those Cristiano, Nani, Rooney or Scholes were far superior to the current cast. Now, with players with a lower profile like Smalling, Shaw or Young, and others with the label of just good players like Rashford, Pogba or Lukaku, the superiority of the culé was even more visible.
 

And the slogan was clear. Valverde had a mixture of intensity and patience to avoid disappointment. Because it was not the day to go crazy. In fact, it is not being a season to go crazy. This is how it is endorsed by parties like today's or those of the Bernabeu (0-3 and 0-1). Reliability in its purest form. It never hurts. It was the one that won, among others, France a World Cup and Madrid three Champions. On the other hand, not having it precisely made the Catalans lose several eliminatory rounds in this competition in recent years.
 

Parallel to the good withdrawal of the English in the first half, there were some approaches. But when you have Piqué in this state of form, your opponent can stay playing until five in the morning ... he is not going to score. Piquenbauer is making it possible to enjoy watching a center-back play. As if it were a creator of the game. Special mention also for Lenglet, who is definitely the one chosen for the big nights as well as a very electric and unleashed Semedo.

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In a long and worked action, Busquets found Messi with a long pass who, slipping away with a chest control to the left, stopped time and put a magic ball to Luis Suárez. Because only someone who knows how to control time can give a pass of that dimension without even looking at the recipient. The Uruguayan headed the ball for the entry of Coutinho, although before it was Luke Shaw, who deflected the ball to his own goal.

0-1 and play with the result. More than with the ball. Barcelona was aware at all times of the rival's best and only weapon: the counterattack. For this reason, those of Valverde applied anesthesia through possession but also in many sections closing spaces. And so they slept a United supported by a huge De Gea. The Madrilenian, in fact, denied the second to a rising but insufficient Coutinho.

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'Same game, different half'

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The second half was a caricature of the first. There were twenty minutes of Mancunian dominance, but it seemed like when the pulse champion almost let himself win against the weakest in the gym. Barça was checking the lack of local punch. Neither in those could the 'red devils' shoot at the door, nor in the overall match. And based on isolated actions by Suárez and Alba, Barça continued to see if the flute sounded. If it was great, and what else does it matter. Because the Camp Nou weighs more than the Park of the Princes that United stormed in the round of 16.
 

A Camp Nou that can be a lot of Camp Nou for a United without pain or glory. It already was for Lyon. Les Corts stadium is a safe that was last raided in Europe six years ago. And it seems complicated that Solskjaer's team is going to break the streak. For their part, Barcelona seems to have learned their lesson. Thanks to a reliable, prudent and practical game, already common this season, he is approaching a semifinals that, when he stepped on them for the last time, ended up winning the treble.  

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