Ronaldo had a chance to put United ahead after 2 minutes when Gabriel Milito handballed his header. However in a rare lapse he sidefooted his penalty wide and hit the post. He then had a blatant penalty turned down when he latched on to an errant pass from Andres Iniesta and Rafael Marquez got his body in the way bringing Ronaldo down in the box. The ref refused to give it though.

Barcelona dominated the match, having over 60% of the possession, but did nothing with it. Utd were good defensively with a reworked backline – with Wes Brown at centre-back and Owen Hargreaves filling in at right-back. Nemanja Vidic withdrew from the game due to a stomach problem.

Van der Sar did well to save a number of strikes, but nothing was too demanding for him. Most were from outside the penalty area.

In the end a 0-0 draw is not ideal, but it could be worse. Utd just have to keep up their good defense at home and score one goal.