Ten Hag and Xavi stir sleeping giants at Manchester United and Barcelona

The last time Manchester United rolled into Barcelona’s Camp Nou, a place in the last four of the Champions League was at stake.

It was the early spring of 2019. In the recent histories of these two superclubs, those heights marked a faraway peak.

Since that tie, won 3-0 on the night by Barcelona and 4-0 on aggregate, Manchester United have not progressed beyond the last 16 of a Champions League; even taking part in club football’s most glamorous event has not been guaranteed.

Barca went on to defend the La Liga crown a few months after dispatching United four seasons ago, but that was, to date, their last Spanish league title. Through almost any lens, the trajectories of both clubs since is decline.

If you chart the journeys over the past 12 years, the fall is pronounced. Then again, almost anything that happened after the 2011 Champions League final, when Barcelona defeated United 3-1 at Wembley might have seemed a disappointment, especially for the winners.

That final is still celebrated as a summit moment of stylish elegance, a showpiece for how Barca, then under Pep Guardiola, set new standards for how the game could be played with a new level of creative organisation.

That United went into half time at 1-1, Wayne Rooney equalising Pedro’s opening goal, was a credit to their tough, renowned competitive impulse.

By the end of that night, after goals from Lionel Messi and David Villa, Alex Ferguson, the United manager, was acknowledging “we were beaten by a fantastic team, the best we have faced”.

Ferguson had the sharpest perspective of all on that: his United were facing Barcelona for the third time in four editions of the Champions League, and had been in three finals in four years. Barcelona’s victory was their