Barcelona Silence United To Clinch Champions League Trophy
Messi hoisting the UEFA Champions League trophy
FC Barcelona beat Manchester United 3-1 in a four-goal football lesson Champions League final last night on Wembley where Messi and Xabi impressed with every single touch. As souvenir, the Catalans took the goal net home in Barcelona as well as their second trophy in the last three years.
Sir Alex Ferguson was right: the game was an epic and did include a lot of goals. Unfortunately, his side managed to score just once, a leveler, without being able to come from behind, not even once. Barca opened the score after half an hour through Pedro, only to be leveled a few minutes later. The half time went 1-1 as the game seemed to be a tight one, though the Spaniards dominated at almost all facets,. Despite a poor start.
Ten minutes into the second part, Messi brought the second lead for the Catalans who wouldn’t drop it until the end. Finally, David Villa had the last word with 20 minutes left. The first big chance belonged to Villa just ten minutes into the game. The striker was picked inside the box, only to be tackled by Rio Ferdinando who took the pressure off Ferguson and gave the Catalans the first corner.
Five minutes later, Pedro had another golden opportunity. The right striker was played by Xabi inside the box, his volley reaching the back of the net to his own dismay, in what should have been an opener. David Villa had a couple of opportunities within a couple of minutes. First, he made himself some space on the edge of the box, his finish being calmly saved by Van der Sar, who was playing his last match in the European competition. Then the same forwarder beat his mark to fire a powerful shot the same Dutch keeper managed to hold.
Pedro scored the first goal of the clash in the 27th minute following a tremendous play from Xabi who finished his job with an unforeseeable pass towards the striker who then beat Van der Sar into the bottom left hand near corner for a huge celebration. Xabi had completed 40 passes out of 40 attempts before feeding the 23-year-old Spaniard.
But Catalans’ joy wouldn’t last but eight minutes. A big free throw error allowed United to develop a three-pass action on the right the finish of which was converted home by Rooney who beat Valdez with a superb well-placed shot into the right hand corner. Messi could have made things worse for the English side with one minute left, but the Ballon d’Or failed to make contact with Villa’s cross in front of the goal. The half time finished with a two-goal draw, but Barca looked by far the better side of the night.
The 52nd minute found Messi heading Alvez’s cross straight to Van der Sar and Barca nearing a new lead. Just three minutes later, the same Argentine succeeded to make it 2-1 after dancing between the United defense and shooting under flying Van der Sar from just outside the box. Alvez was the first to pick a yellow card, though Valencia was the main candidate for it, after taking down Evra. Carrick followed him in the 61st minute, his late tackle on Iniesta being cautioned by the Hungarian referee.
Four back-to-back occasions were then missed by Pep Guardiola’s side. Messi ridiculed his mark Ferdinand but not the Dutch keeper who cleared the air with a god save. Alvez fed the same Messi one minute later, but Fabio’s providential intervention hindered Barca of scoring the third. Xavi fished the ball just outside the box, hitting a super well-placed shot the United keeper deflected into another corner.
Finally, Messi picked Iniesta in good position, but his dangerous finish made the Dutch keeper work pretty hard. Manchester were the first to make a change as Ferguson replaced injured Fabio with lively Nani in the 69th minute. A couple of minutes later, Barca made it 3-1 through Villa who made things look clear as possible. Messi finished a sensational job on the right with a smart pass towards the Spaniard who fired an outstanding screamer from the edge of the box straight into the top left hand corner.
United then introduced Paul Scholes for ineffectual Michael Carrick. Valencia collected his yellow in the 81st minute as frustration surrounded the whole English side. The Ecuadorian fouled Iniesta to bring Untied the second caution of the night. Victor Valdez also received a yellow for time-wasting in the 85th minute. Guardiola replaced David Villa with Seydou Keita, Dani Alvez with Puyol and Pedro with Ibrahim Afellay, all made to trigger standing ovations.
It went 3-1 as Barca have won their third Champions League trophy in club history, second under Pep Guardiola. Sir Alex Ferguson admitted and praised the Spaniards for the beautiful performance. “Nobody’s given us a hiding like that but they deserve it because they play the right way and they enjoy their football… We tried to play as near to the way we normally play. For instance, it’s alien to us to try to man-mark players. We tried to play as normally as we can. It wasn’t good enough on the night, we acknowledge that,” said the Scott at the end of the game.
The London Police arrested 80 Barcelona fans for public order offences and other infringements after the same Spanish fans had displayed the message ‘We Love Football’ before the game.
Recent meetings and results between FC Barcelona and Manchester United
1983-84 Cup Winner Cup
FC Barcelona 2 – 0 Manchester United
Manchester United 3 – 0 FC Barcelona
1991 Cup Winners Cup Final
Manchester United 2 – 1 FC Barcelona
1994-95 Champions League group stage
FC Barcelona 4 – 0 Manchester United
Manchester United 2 – 2 FC Barcelona
1998099 Champions League group stage
Manchester United 3 – 3 FC Barcelona
FC Barcelona 3 – 3 Manchester United
2007-08 Champions League semi finals
FC Barcelona 0 – 0 Manchester United
Manchester United 1 – 0 FC Barcelona
2008-09 Champions League final
FC Barcelona 2 – 0 Manchester United
