Manchester United continued their incredible revival under Erik ten Hag, overturning a 1-0 deficit to eliminate Barcelona from the Europa League, with a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford.

A raucous atmosphere at Old Trafford set the stage for yet another meeting between Manchester United and Barcelona, following on from their 2-2 draw in the first-leg

However, it wasn’t a performance worthy of the crowd from the hosts early on as they struggled to control the ball as has been common since Erik ten Hag‘s arrival.

Despite a number of clever touches, it was Barcelona who drew first blood, silencing the crowd through a Robert Lewandowski penalty.

After 17 minutes of play, United didn’t clear a Barcelona set-piece and Alejandro Balde was first to a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area.

In a rathe clumsy passage of play, Bruno Fernandes attempted to hold onto Balde’s arm to prevent him from turning and facing goal.

Whilst this happens at virtually every similar scenario, Balde actually surprised Fernandes by going to ground, and the referee pointed to the spot.

Despite the ire of the home fans, the Polish international stepped up to the spot and just managed to squeeze his shot beyond David de Gea’s left-hand.

Manchester United simply never got going in the first-half. They were not able to launch any sort of attacking presence as Wout Weghorst struggled.

Marcus Rashford was limited in his effectiveness as Los Cules’ defense contained the on-form forward.

In truth, the hosts were lucky to only be one goal behind by the time the half-time interval came.

De Gea played an awful pass straight to a Barcelona player, with only Casemiro and Raphael Varane saving his blushes by performing two crucial blocks inside the penalty area.

Ten Hag tweaked his system

It was telling at the half-time interval that Barcelona felt disappointed by the scoreline.

They could, and should, have put the tie to bed when United were struggling, but the English club were still alive.

Ten Hag sent his team out early for the second period, withdrawing Weghorst and introducing summer-signing Antony.

Whilst goals change games, the momentum appeared to swing in United’s favor almost instantly.

A fine piece of play from United saw Fred through on goal and the Brazilian volleyed a first-time shot beyond Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Despite the Blaugrana’s dominance, the tie was now level once again.

From there it was all Manchester United. Erik ten Hag’s tactical tweaks had worked with Antony stretching the Barcelona backline in a way Weghorst hadn’t been able to.

The midfield of Fred and Casemiro was then able to take full control.

Antony tested the waters with a couple of sighter shots, all of which were comfortably saved by the German.

After 73 minutes of play, with Barcelona defending for their lives, United took the lead for the first time on the night.

Luke Shaw bombed forward down the left and kept an attack alive with a smart backheel, the ball was then played across the penalty area to Antony at the back-post, with the former Ajax forward hitting a beautiful first-time strike into the bottom corner of the net

Old Trafford went wild. Manchester United had come from behind to turn the tie around.

Alejandro Garnacho‘s introduction on the left created a whole host of problems for the travelling Spanish side.

His pace was too much to handle and he got beyond Ronald Araujo and then Jules Kounde on several occasions, albeit with little end product.

73,021 watched on from the stands as the match headed into its final five minutes, with Barcelona needing a goal to send the tie into extra-time.

Ansu Fati missed a good opportunity with a poor header, although Lewandowski missed an even bigger chance just seconds later

The Polish forward was through on goal, fired a shot beyond De Gea, only for Varane to perform a heroic block on the goal-line. Replays would then show an offside in the build-up that would have ruled out any goal.

That would prove to be the last meaningful action of the game as the referee blew his whistle to confirm Manchester United had progressed into the next round of the Europa League, and that Barcelona’s European season was over