As the teams lined up for what was supposed to be a mouth-watering Champions League semi-final first leg clash at Barcelona's  Nou Camp, eyebrows were raised when Wayne Rooney was named on the right flank with Cristiano Ronaldo up front as a striker with Carlos Tevez in a flat 4-4-2.

Apart from the crucial penalty missed by Ronaldo, Manchester United had little to offer in terms of attack.

Barcelona were in the ascendancy and buoyed by Ronaldo’s penalty miss and the support of a vociferous Catalan crowd, they began to press hard. Most experts believed that United’s free-roaming strike force could put pressure on Barcelona’s back four, particularly in the absence of the veteran, Carlos Puyol.

'Barcelona were in the ascendancy and buoyed by Ronaldo’s penalty miss and the support of a vociferous Catalan crowd, they began to press hard'


But Barcelona, to their credit, attacked from the front and Samuel Eto’o kept running the channels and picking up Lionel Messi’s accurate passes. Messi was a handful and did not seem to be ring rusty from his recent injury. Patrice Evra and Park Ji Sung did a creditable job in doubling up and ensuring that Messi did not get on the score sheet. United had to defend deep and only some efficient defending ensured that the home side did not make United pay for the penalty miss.

Alarmingly, people like Rooney went missing as he was relegated to an unfamiliar role and did not get the service or space to burst forward and terrorise the Spanish defence, as he does in the Premier League week after week. Predictably, Evra had to curb his attacking instinct as Messi was threatening to break free and making his trademark mesmerising runs.

My point is, did Ferguson get it wrong by interchanging the roles between Ronaldo and Rooney?

To be fair to the manager, the switch was really brought about by an injury to key central defender Nemanja Vidic. Wes Brown was moved from right-back to the central role with Owen Hargreaves filling in as emergency right back; presumably Sir Alex thought Rooney would offer greater defensive cover in front of  Hargreaves.

The ploy worked in keeping Barcelona at bay, but it also effectively curtailed United’s natural instincts. Rooney and Tevez share a very good understanding up front, which at times seemed lacking between Tevez and Ronaldo.

The few times that United did manage to surge forward on the break, the understanding was missing, allowing the Barcelona defence and midfield to intercept and press forward again. Paul Scholes never found his range, and Michael Carrick occupied the holding role in front of United's back four. 

He made one good run forward which resulted him in hitting the side netting. But apart from that there was precious little that he contributed in attacking terms.

Also I feel Anderson could have been brought on in the last 30 minutes of the game; his tenacity in the tackle and his tireless running could have given United that much needed impetus in midfield, especially against the combative Yaya Toure who was winning challenges, breaking up the United attack and keeping things tidy in midfield.

While people might say that United are in pole position in the tie, as they did not let Barcelona take advantage on their home turf, my anxiety stems from the fact that Barcelona looked more threatening and more likely to score, especially with Messi back in action and orchestrating the attack.

United are expected to score at the Theatre of Dreams but given the potency of Barcelona’s strike force, United will have to score more than once to be reasonably sure of going to Moscow. The missed penalty becomes all the more crucial as it would have not only shattered Barcelona very early in the tie but also given United insurance against Barcelona scoring at Old Trafford.