Barcelona vs Manchester United: Absolutely nobody at United should be safe after chastising loss

United find themselves at a point where they cannot afford to put a single foot wrong over the next few transfer windows

For Ole Gunnar Solskjaer there was to be one final moment of farce on an exceptionally difficult night that felt anything but a comedy.

The somewhat tedious media crew that has been following the Norwegian around and asking all manner of bizarre questions at press conferences finally had nothing left to ask. Instead, one member put up their hand and explained they had been visiting supporters’ clubs all over the world and had a gift from Kenya, presenting Solskjaer with a pipe.

It made a change from the match, after so many of the Norwegian’s players repeatedly presented gifts to Barcelona.

The chasm in quality that led to that was perhaps the main takeaway from this traumatic night at Camp Nou for United, beyond how singularly focused on the Champions League the magnificent Lionel Messi looks.

Solskjaer’s side were so far off Barcelona’s level, though, that it was difficult to judge how good the Spanish champions actually are. And while there would usually be no shame to losing to them or to Messi, there was some shame in the manner of this.

United really didn’t make life easy for themselves - with a series of truly embarrassing moments - and it reflects how many bad decisions have been made at the club in the time since they last got to a Champions League semi-final in 2011.

The very next season after that saw them go out in the group stage to Basel, and four of the back five from that night started here. Solskjaer now has big decisions on many of his players beyond that.

Many might say that some bad decisions have already been taken with the new regime, given the surprise that Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have recently been given new contracts. Some United sources put that down to the need for stability, but they should no longer be the players stabilising the club at the heart of the defence. They should at best pad the squad.

This was something Jose Mourinho was right about, even if doesn’t make his own approach right. That area needs a complete make-over, and maybe an entirely new back four. Ashley Young has been a creditable servant, but part of the credit is because he is a 33-year-old somehow hanging on on at a level he is by now well short of. It seemed to all catch up with him in his fraught moments before that fatal first Messi goal, when he looked so panicked.

That he’s still in team shows a problem with the football structure, and emphasises that United are at a point where they have to get virtually every new signing right for the next few windows. Too many have been too unsatisfactory, from Romelu Lukaku to Alexis Sanchez to the curious case of the otherwise talented Eric Bailly. There are about 12 players United could do with selling, but they can't do that all at once, so need to be forensic about it. That is a quality that has been badly missing.

The fact a group of Cruyff-influenced clubs - technically sound players integrated into progressive possession-based football over the long term, and with a long-term identity - could reach the semi-finals in Ajax, Barcelona and Manchester City only sharpens the point. That Ajax have come on so much more since they lost to United in the 2017 Europa League final - and with so much less money - makes it all the more painful.

It also reminds why United are so lacking in sharpness.

United’s transfer activity has been disappointing (Getty)

Further forward, they need a much stronger presence in midfield: you can see why the club is so intent on signing Jadon Sancho. Jesse Lingard is a willing lad who tries hard — but this is part of the problem. One of the biggest clubs in the world should not be reliant on willingness. It requires top quality.

Which brings us to two players the club really want to keep.

Real Madrid firmly believe they can get Paul Pogba, and it’s a confidence that is surprising many at United, since they just won’t countenance a sale.

The question at this point should be why not? At 26 and supposed to be coming into his prime, Pogba just does not offer the command or influence his status and value demand. He hasn’t given United anywhere near enough to justify building a team around him. He still just decorates games rather than dominates them, and is far too casual. Too many big matches pass him by.

Paul Pogba was underwhelming (Reuters)

This isn’t to write him off or even say he’s been bad - there is frustratingly so much there - but it is to almost bring it down to the maths. It could be said it is an indictment of how the club thinks that Pogba is considered unsellable because of his commercial social-media value, but that maybe should be precisely why they sell him.

He could bring in the money - or the direct swaps in players like Rafael Varane or Toni Kroos - that also brings more quality into the team, and actually makes them more marketable and attractive as a whole: exactly what the point of any club should be.

And what of David de Gea?

A series of club sources now say there is a “real fear” that he will not sign a new deal, especially with Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus willing to match his demands. But, for the first time ever, would that really be such a bad thing? Should it be something to “fear"?

David de Gea has struggled this season (Getty)

De Gea has for a long time been one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and for a long time the best thing about United as he so often saved them - but that has ceased to be the case in the last year. A series of previously uncharacteristic howlers have instead become a trend of his game, and he has been greatly overtaken by keepers like Ederson and Alisson.

Part of that might have a deeper significance, because it’s possible his very game has been overtaken.

It is pointed that playing in his own country seems to bring out the worst in De Gea as he made another big mistake against Barcelona, but also that the national team first brought out this debate in his game. It was with Spain last year that De Gea began to make mistakes people couldn’t imagine with United, and it was partly because of the effect on confidence from struggling to play as a more ball-playing goalkeeper.

It was that spell before the World Cup that sparked these longer-term issues in De Gea’s game - as if his overall assurance has been diminished - but there might be something wider for United to consider.

The Brazilian goalkeepers have surpassed De Gea (AP)

De Gea just struggles to play the kind of game that Alisson and Ederson excel at, and have made the expectation for modern goalkeepers. The Spaniard is more suited to Jose Mourinho’s more withdrawn game, where it is more about saves, but that is a reactive approach now out of step with the top level of the game.

It should of course be mentioned that very low quality of that defence is inevitably going to affect De Gea, and was always going to get to the point where he couldn’t keep bailing him out, but that’s a wider point. If De Gea isn’t going to sign a new contract, why not cash in to fund the purchase of superior defenders and other players?

And whatever about his own confidence in his backline, De Gea's own country don’t seem to have much confidence in him.

There was another element of farce at the end of the press conference when the bluntest question of the night was put to Solskjaer, by a Spanish journalist.

The Norwegian was asked who was most decisive for Barcelona: Messi or… De Gea.

Solskjaer dodged that by just praising Messi.

He can’t dodge the big decisions about United to come. They are more important than ever.