Former Manchester United star Lee Sharpe believes the Barcelona forwards struggled on Wednesday night because of the way the Red Devils defenders physically imposed themselves.

Barcelona scored a 1-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie via a Luke Shaw own goal, but struggled to create clear cut chances at Old Trafford.




Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi did combine well for the goal but the duo were kept relatively quiet by the Manchester United defenders, who did not shy away from physical challenges.

Messi even suffered a bloody nose following a strong challenge from Chris Smalling and Sharpe believes the physical nature of the defenders very much kept the Barcelona forwards in check.
 


He feels the Barcelona forward line will have been disappointed by their overall performance despite the win.

Sharpe said on MUTV on the Barcelona attack: “I think they took a little bit of a physical kicking tonight from our back two.
 

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“I think Smalling and [Victor] Lindelof let them know that they were around.

“We saw Suarez limping off a little bit, Messi obviously went off with a bloody nose, they know that they were in a game tonight and neither of them scored.

“It was a disappointing night for them.”

Barcelona will hope to play better and put the tie to bed early when the two sides clash again next week at the Camp Nou.