Erik Ten Hag: Referee got Marcus Rashford decision wrong

Erik ten Hag was infuriated by the officials' inaction for a poor challenge on star man Marcus Rashford after Manchester United failed to turn dominance into a memorable Europa League win at Barcelona.

Thursday’s knockout round play-off first leg lived up to the hype as the resurgent heavyweights went toe-to-toe at the cavernous Nou Camp.

United had chances to be ahead at the break, most notably through Wout Weghorst, and fell behind five minutes into the second half when former Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso headed home a corner.

Rashford responded emphatically with a superb 22nd goal of the season and then sent over a cross bundled into his own net by Jules Kounde, who escaped a red card for a challenge on the forward shortly after.

It was a let-off Barca capitalised on as former Leeds favourite Raphinha’s cross found the net to seal a 2-2 draw that sets up a fascinating second leg at Old Trafford next week.

"If you face number one of Spain in an away game and you are the dominant team, you can see this as a positive," United boss Ten Hag said.

"We should have won this game so we have steps to go.

"But I think it was two good teams, the highest level. It was enjoyable to watch.

"But I think everyone agrees it was a really high performance level from both teams and I was really happy with our performance, to face this strong team."

Ten Hag said United created up to seven "100 per cent chances" that they clearly had to "finish more" of on a night when the Red Devils boss could not believe Kounde avoided a red card for bringing down Rashford.

"So, the criticism is (be) more clinical, finish chances and that is what we didn’t do," the Dutchman said.

"Because in such a game, we created many chances. You can’t expect actually but we