Manchester United rounded off their tour of the USA with a 3-1 win of Spanish side Barcelona, at the Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia last night.

The win gave United a 100% record in this competition, and a massive boost of morale, as the new season beckons. Other wins over Celtic 4-0, Club America 3-1, and Juventus 4-1. 

The first chance of the game went to Barca just 7 minutes in, when van Nistelrooy’s international partner Patrick Kluivert found space in front of goal, and forced an amazing save from new ‘keeper Tim Howard- who was playing only his 2^nd game for the Red Devils.

Non-other than Ronaldinho, who snubbed United for the Catalans, looked incredibly sharp- and caused all sorts of problems. In fact, he set up the first goal of the match, - when he crossed in a superb ball for Dutchman Patrick Kluivert to head in. 1-0 Barca.

United had a wake-up-call moment later when Brazilian Ronaldinho had a shot which skimmed the upright.

Uruguayan international Diego Forlan had United first real chance of the game when his shot was only a little bit high over Barca ‘keeper Valdes, and Barca were looking weaker from then on.

On the 23^rd minute, young-gun Darren Fletcher, passed a superb 50 yard pass (similar to a you-know-who type pass) to the feet of Ryan Giggs, only to have it snatched away by Dutch defender Michael Reiziger.

Half way through the first half, Ryan Giggs picked up the ball by the 18-yard-box and crossed the ball to Diego Forlan, who blasted the ball home from an impressive diving header. 1-1.

United at this point made Barcelona look mediocre and took advantage of that when Phil Neville passed the ball to an influential Nicky Butt, whose low cross took a minor deflection off defender Lopez, and fell to Diego Forlan, who was there to slot the ball home. 2-1 United.

                        Half Time- Manchester United 2 – Barcelona 1  

The second half saw two of United’s summer targets, Ronaldinho and Kluivert, get substituted.

The first real chance of the 2^nd half went to Barca, when midfielder Xavi struck a superb free-kick, only to be saved by the very impressive American keeper- Tim Howard, who stretched as much as be could to punch the ball away

United’s joint top-scorer of the tour, Diego Forlan, was subbed on the 50^th minute by the other joint top scorer Ruud van Nistelrooy. Forlan looked very sharp and impressive all throughout the tour- so too was van Nistelrooy. Darren Fletcher also made was for new-boy David Bellion.

A Man Utd game wouldn’t be a Man Utd game without a Ruud van Nistelrooy goal- he made sure the game was a game when he dispossessed Partick Anderson and took the ball round ‘keeper Victor Valdes to score. 3-1 United.

United played excellent football throughout the tour and have looked incredibly sharp- scoring 14 goals, and only letting in 3.

Manchester United: Howard; P Neville, Ferdinand, O’Shea; Fortune, Fletcher (Bellion 53), Butt, Keane, Giggs (Solskjaer 66); Scholes, Forlan (van Nistelrooy 53).
 
FC Barcelona: Valdes; Puyol, Reiziger, O Lopez, G Lopez; Enrique, Xavi, Cocu, Ronaldinho; Kluivert, Saviola. 

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