L’Equipe are notoriously harsh with their player ratings and they’ve had a field day with Manchester United following their defeat to Barcelona on Tuesday night.
A brace from Lionel Messi and a wonder goal from Philippe Coutinho at Camp Nou added to Luke Shaw’s own goal at Old Trafford last week to leave little doubt about which side deserved to progress to the Champions League semi-final.
Several United players were found wanting in the return leg and Red Devils manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitted that his side was several levels below Barcelona.
“That’s the quality we have to aspire to,” Solskjaer said in his post-match interview.
“If we want to get back to Manchester United’s true tradition and level we have got to get to challenge the Barcelonas, and I’ve got to say they were a couple of levels above us in those 90 minutes and at Old Trafford.
“We want to play these games next year so we’ve got a massive week coming up and now we have to concentrate on the league.”
The player ratings from L’Equipe will not make for pleasant reading for United’s players as the French outlet only saw one performance worthy of a 5, which went to Chris Smalling.
The remaining players were left with 3s and 4s, leaving United with an average of 3.6, while Barcelona came out with an average of 6.4.
