HIZI NDIZO PHOTO ZA MTANANGE WA JANA KATI YA MANCHESTER UNITED NA BARCELONA.

Deja vu: Ashley Young failed to score from the penalty spot for Manchester United just weeks after missing for England at Euro 2012 (below)

United will hope now that they have more luck with their pursuit of Arsenal’s Robin van Persie. On the field, they will merely wish to be more potent in front of goal.

Having seen Wayne Rooney miss a penalty in normal time, Nani and Ashley Young then erred in a rather odd three-kick shootout in which Xavi and Gerard Pique scored, to hand victory to Barcelona after this friendly had ended scoreless after 90 minutes.

Results in pre-season games don’t matter, of course. Nobody should pretend they should.
But in truth, United struggled to contain Barcelona for long periods of what was a relatively entertaining friendly game.

Tracking his man: Anderson vies for the ball with Barcelona's Messi

Able to raise a smile: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson laughs after the defeat

Certainly Barca should have been in the lead by half-time. In the early stages, Andres Iniesta saw a shot saved by David de Gea, Lionel Messi poked a close-range shot wide while Cristian Tello struck a post. Later in the half, Messi was denied by De Gea’s legs from six yards out.

United spurned the clearest chance of the first period, however. Tello was harshly judged to have brought down Nani in the 45th minute but Rooney’s penalty was saved and the England forward then slashed the rebound peculiarly wide.

We meet again: Nemanja Vidic vies with Lionel Messi

Crowded out: Rooney, center, fights for the ball with Barcelona's Javier Mascherano, left, and Carles Puyol

Rooney was replaced by Shinji Kagawa at half-time and the Japanese midfielder immediately brought a low save from Barcelona’s substitute goalkeeper Jose Manuel Pinto.

It wasn’t long, though, before the pattern of the game reverted to type, and as Barcelona monopolised possession De Gea saved Alexis Sanchez’s shot with his legs before touching Pedro’s header around the post.

Heads up: Danny Welbeck and Sergi Roberto jump for the ball

In last 20 minutes, United faced a totally different team as Barcelona made 10 substitutions with midfielder Sergio Busquets the only player remaining from those that started the game. But he was taken off with 14 minutes to go and replaced by Ilie Sanchez.