Steamboat Soccer Academy Blog

Manchester United No Match for Barcelona

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Barca 2 Man Utd 0

Manchester United left Rome Wednesday night in utter ruins, as they were shunned off the pitch with one of the teams more ‘shoddy’ performances of the year. Barcelona, who supposedly couldn’t match the speed and attacking style of The Reds, looked superior in every department.

Cristiano Ronaldo was nowhere to be found after the 10th minute and consequently lost the incredibly hyped duel with Lionel Messi. This was not how an otherwise exceptional season was supposed to end. After all there were talks of destiny and claims to be the first club to win the famed European Cup in back to back seasons.

During the first 10 minutes of the match, it seemed that the champions of Europe would be Manchester. They attacked as soon as the whistle blew and after one minute Ronaldo was lining up a free kick (which he nearly put in.) Barcelona looked to be on their heels and unsure of how to handle the Red Devils. But with the breakdown of Anderson and Vidic, Eto’o toe-poked the ball past Van der Sar and Manchester never seemed to be in control again. Then in the 70th minute the smallest guy on the pitch, Lionel Messi put in a header from the six yard box thanks to a picture perfect cross from Xavi that sealed the match.

So how did Barca take down the eleven gladiators from Manchester? They did so with great consistency, playing their game and controlling the pace of play. Xavi, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta as well as every footballer from Barcelona played well. But it was Xavi who made more passes than Ryan Giggs, Anderson and Carrick combined. Messi who seemed to be operating exclusively on Manchester’s side of the pitch, where he was a relentless menace and Iniesta who caused havoc on the left side where he routinely completed 65 of his 69 passes (94%).

It was thought that the experience of Sir Alex Ferguson would expose the young Pep Guardiola in his first campaign as Barca boss. However it was Guardiola who provided all the answers and completed the amazing treble of domestic league and cup and now Europe’s biggest prize at only 38. Guardiola became the youngest Champions League winning coach ever and one of six to lift the trophy as both player and manager.

It truly takes a great team to make United look average, let alone ugly, but Barca did so and no one, not even Sir Alex Ferguson denied the best side won.

Fergie told reporters: “In fairness we were beaten by the best team. We weren’t our best. When we did get possession we didn’t do well with it. Credit to them, the better team won.”

To make matters worse for Manchester United, they could be losing their star player. Ronaldo has refused to commit himself to the squad stating that, “My future for now is the national team. I don’t want to talk about clubs.” It seems Ronaldo could be heading to Real Madrid but then again, this could just be a repeat of last summer’s transfer drama between the two clubs.

Video Highlights:

Watch Barcelona v Manchester United in Sports Online |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com