After all the talk of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi, it was a man who loathes the limelight, Paul Scholes, who stole the show here in this magnificent Catalan theatre on Wednesday night. After a master class in the use of the ball, Scholes received the ultimate compliment — Thierry Henry asked for his shirt.

It had not been a good week for the ginger fraternity, following John Arne Riise’s own goal at Anfield, but Scholes gave Manchester United supreme hope of reaching the Moscow final on May 21. Fractionally ahead of Rio Ferdinand, Scholes was man of the match for a performance rich in well-timed tackles and well-judged passes.

Kick-off had been momentarily delayed by the Italian referee who insisted that a television light be removed from the touchline. Massimo Busacca was determined that the game’s leading lights should be allowed to shine, and he swiftly intervened when Ronaldo was felled by Rafael Marquez in a breathless opening to the game.

The Portuguese flier was not to enjoy the best of fortunes from first-half set-pieces. This free-kick clipped Xavi in the wall and deflected for a corner. Still United threatened, Wayne Rooney curling the flag-kick over. Ronaldo met the ball firmly, glancing it towards goal, and it flew into Gabriel Milito’s hand. “Penalty” screamed United players.

“Penalty” came the echo moments later from United fans, sited so high up that they were almost level with the peaks of the Pyrenees. Busacco pointed unhesitatingly to the spot. Here was the dream start for United, the opportunity of an away goal that could prove so crucial on the road to Moscow.

Surely Ronaldo would score. He addressed the ball confidently enough, deliberately stuttering mid-run to confuse Victor Valdes, before whipping the ball wide of Valdes. Sadly, it also flew wide of the keeper’s left upright. The Nou Camp laughed at Ronaldo’s agony.

Echoing his deployment in Rome, Ronaldo had again started as an out-and-out centre-forward supported by Carlos Tevez in a 4-4-1-1 formation Ferguson occasionally uses on foreign fields.

England’s coach, Fabio Capello, was an intrigued observer of Ferguson’s use of his native resources. England’s best holding midfielder, Owen Hargreaves, played right-back. Capello’s right-back, Wes Brown, was centre-half, covering for the sick Nemanja Vidic. England’s leading striker, Wayne Rooney, took the right-midfield responsibilities. And United’s most accomplished English midfielder, Scholes, had retired internationally. Capello had plenty to digest on St George’s Day.

With the outstanding Ferdinand holding firm at the back, Ferguson’s men sought to withstand a storm by the Mediterranean. United’s creatives kept dropping back to help out, Tevez putting in an important tackle on Yaya Toure. Then Rooney made a magnificent clearance as it seemed half of Catalonia descended on Edwin van der Sar’s box.

The most impressive defender on view was undoubtedly Ferdinand, whose pace and sense of anticipation served United well, particularly when Eto’ was racing through on goal. Ferdinand effortlessly hauled in the Cameroon international, spiriting the ball to safety.

Hitherto imperious, Ferdinand then made a bad mistake, allowing Samuel Eto’ to escape, and almost bringing him down. Eto’ could have hit the deck but commendably continued, cutting the ball back into the danger area. Only the alert Michael Carrick rescued United.

The game continued to sway from end to end, Eto’ and then Carrick shooting into side-nettings. Barcelona enjoyed most time in the ball’s company, but United were sticking well to their tactical task, to surround Barcelona’s many ball-users with white shirts.

Scholes was terrific in the centre, putting in some vital challenges. When the sporting deities handed out their gifts, Scholes was not the first in the queue when it came to the art and craft of tackling. It has been a weakness in his game, but Scholes was faultless here in repossessing the ball, as well as distributing it shrewdly.

Scholes knew that if he surrendered the ball lightly, Barcelona would not return it for a long time. So he and Rooney were models in ball use.

As Barcelona increasingly resembled Arsenal, all beautiful approach work but no ruthlessness, on loped Thierry Henry with 13 minutes left. He almost broke the deadlock within 100 seconds, cutting in from the left in a manner seen so often in the Premier League, and then letting fly. Henry struck the ball so hard that it almost ripped Van der Sar’s gloves off.

As the clock ticked down, real urgency characterised Barcelona moves, with Xavi shooting hurriedly, and almost catching out Van der Sar. Then Henry curled a free-kick over the wall, bringing a good flying save from Van der Sar. Henry’s next move was to dart across to Scholes to swap shirts.