Solskjaer: Messi & Ronaldo are a different class, but Man Utd are levels behind

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, has admitted Champions League opponents Barcelona are levels above them.

The Norwegian tasted his heaviest defeat so far, as the red devils fell to Barcelona 3-0 in the Camp Nou. Having failed to score in both legs of the fixture whose aggregate stands at 4-0.

Lionel Messi found the net twice, and Solskjaer has admitted both the Argentine and his Portuguese counterpart Cristiano Ronaldo are on another class, as he pondered over the red devils current predicament.

“If you want a result you need a performance and you need some margins.” Solskjaer told BT Sport.

“We started well and created some decent chances in the first 10-15 minutes but then he hits that in the bottom corner Messi, I’ve got to say he’s top quality and he was the difference. They got the 1-0 and then 2-0 straight after and that was game over.

“He’s different class. Him and Cristiano [Ronaldo] have been the best players over the last decade, I think everyone agrees on that one and tonight as well he shows his quality.

“The Barcelona team here that’s the level we have to aspire to get to. We know we’re not there yet, we can get there, but we’ve got loads of work to do.

“If we want to get back to Man United’s true traditions and level we have to get to challenge the Barcelona’s and I’ve got to say they were a couple of levels above in the 90 minutes here and 90 minutes at OId Trafford.”

Manchester United are out of the Champions League, and now have just a lifeline left to qualify for next season’s competition, as Ole revealed the team yearns for big games such as this.

“We want to play in these games again next year so we’ve got a massive week coming up against Everton, City and Chelsea.”

“They’re disappointed but there’s no point dwelling on what could have been.”