The players and spectators of Manchester United arrived in Barcelona yesterday to discover that the people of Catalonia take St George's Day a great deal more seriously than the English do. Sant Jorge is their patron saint, too, and is commemorated with a public holiday on which couples exchange gifts according to a simple formula: a red rose for the woman, a book for the man. Stalls selling both commodities lined the Rambla de Catalunya, making this look like a nation addicted to love and learning, as well as to football.

The rose thing goes back to the Middle Ages, but the second element was added in the 1920s by an inventive Barcelona bookseller who wanted to commemorate the simultaneous deaths of Cervantes and Shakespeare on April 23 1616 - while, presumably, selling a few books into the bargain. Appropriate, then, that a Spanish and an English club should meet to celebrate the day, albeit entirely by an accident of Uefa's scheduling, and perhaps to produce their own epic of drama and poetry.

Chiefly tasked with providing those qualities last night were Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, runners-up behind Kaka for France Football's most recent golden boot award and now fighting it out for this year's award. Two men essentially doing the same job, that of creating and scoring goals while providing luminous entertainment for all lovers of imaginative and technically innovative football as well as for supporters of their own clubs, they could hardly be more different in temperament and style. This was a duel between the modesty and mesmerising close-quarters sleight of foot of the 20-year-old Argentine and the audacious, flamboyant running of the 23-year-old trickster from Portugal.

Ronaldo, for whom football really is a form of theatre, did his best to supply a resonant prologue with a 40-yard free-kick which bounced off the two-man defensive wall within the first minute. Thirty seconds later he provoked Gabriel Milito into conceding a penalty, and then sidefooted the spot-kick over the bar. Thereafter, perhaps not entirely to his own surprise, his every touch was jeered by the home crowd, notably when he played keepy-uppy after the ball had gone out for a throw to Barcelona near the halfway line, and later in the half when he fed Patrice Evra by means of a reverse pass delivered with the inside of his left heel - the first a piece of gratuitous embellishment, the second a perfect example of the creative imagination being put to an impeccably practical use.

It was Messi, however, who wrote the best lines in the first act, his skill at luring defenders towards him and then whipping the ball away from them causing constant problems for the left flank of United's defence. Deco and Gianluca Zambrotta were his frequent accomplices as he scurried to and fro, searching for the lethal opening. In the ninth minute he left Carlos Tevez trailing with a flick of his weaker right foot before making for the byline and darting between Paul Scholes and Park Ji-Sung to produce a dangerous cutback.

A minute later, head down and hair flapping, he was chasing Ronaldo's dribble and dispossessing his rival, sending the home supporters into mirthful ecstasy as he forced the ball into touch. Two more cutbacks narrowly failed to find first Deco and then Samuel Eto'o. At this early stage his wonderful footwork seemed like a natural extension of the sardana, Catalonia's national dance, which is also a feature of el dia de la rosa y del llibre. The demonstration seemed merely to have been moved from the Placa Sant Jaume to the Camp Nou.

Ronaldo, however, would not be silenced. After failing to beat the wall with another long-range free-kick, he slipped into the Barcelona penalty area to take advantage of Andrés Iniesta's reckless square pass and thought he should have been awarded another penalty when Rafael Márquez put out an arm. On this occasion Ronaldo might have done better to use his considerable upper-body strength to continue his run.

Despite Messi's efforts, Barcelona went in at half-time having not entirely managed to convince their fans in the full house of their success in putting their recent travails behind them. Their assaults on the United goal in the early minutes after the interval suggested that Frank Rijkaard had said his piece, and the visitors had a narrow escape when Messi almost reached Eto'o's square pass after the Cameroonian had skinned Rio Ferdinand on the right, only Michael Carrick's hurtling interception getting in the way of what would have been a clear scoring chance. A minute later Carrick was up at the other end of the field, beating Márquez with a lovely feint before making his way into the area and smashing a shot into the side netting.

Meanwhile Ronaldo was again being subjected to a barrage of whistling after being left on the seat of his pants by Zambrotta, although he might have gained a certain amount of satisfaction from the sight of Messi, who has played hardly any football since suffering what turned out to be a worryingly persistent thigh injury back in December, leaving the field just after the hour, the warm applause for his departure immediately swamped by the huge cheer greeting the arrival of another prodigy, the 17-year-old Bojan Krkic. Football is, first and last, a game of hope.

Messi v Ronaldo

Impact on game

Messi 4/5
The creator of most of United's vulnerable moments while Messi was on the pitch, it was a typically dazzling display only missing the glossy finish

Ronaldo 3/5
By proving himself a mere mortal from the spot Ronaldo made us endure Craig David's Human at half-time. But he forced Barça's back four to work hard

Goal threat

Messi 2
Had a shot deflected on 47 minutes and had Samuel Eto'o to blame for delaying a cross four minutes later when he was poised in the six-yard box

Ronaldo 2
To call his penalty attempt a threat would be giving it too much credit but, despite creating another chance of a spot-kick, it was as close as he came

Value to team

Messi 4
At the heart of Barça's attack before substituted, he lurked in behind the strikers and fed Eto'o and Andrés Iniesta with some sublime passes

Ronaldo 3
United's rock-solid defence deserves most of the plaudits but the Portuguese was their sole inspiration in attack as others went missing

Skill level

Messi 4
Brought thunderous applause with a breathtaking chest and chip over Patrice Evra and rarely gave a bad touch in 62 minutes

Ronaldo 3
Mostly left the bag of tricks at Old Trafford but gave Eric Abidal a glimpse of his wizardry with a mesmerising first-half reverse flick

Demeanour

Messi 4
Appeared grateful just to be back on this stage as he saluted the smitten home fans on his departure

Ronaldo 2
A picture of frustration throughout. No wonder he looked skyward with arms held out just before the end

Total

Messi 18/25

Ronaldo 13/25