It had been built as the greatest final in 10 years, with Manchester United and Barcelona -two of the world’s best going toe-to-toe in the Wembley arena- and it did not disappoint. Many articles and reports will have been written on the best spectacle in the world - evening eclipsing the Superbowl - but none could do it justice.
It was a pulsating match from start to finish as the world’s superstars displayed the sort of entertainment that had you on the edge of your seat and as if the script had been already written it ended fittingly with Frenchman Eric Abidal- who 72 days ago was having a tumour removed- lifting the Champions League for the Catalan giants after their fantastic 3-1 victory. It was Barcelona’s fourth time and twice in quick succession over Sir Alex Ferguson’s side- beating them 2-0 in Rome in 2009.
And perhaps the most pleasing aspect from a neutral point of view was that there was little if any controversy which mired the La Liga Champions semi-final against Real Madrid. The game was played the way it was supposed to be, with the exception of Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets- who would win an Oscar for best actor as each challenge he received saw him roll about the floor as if he had been taken out by a sniper in one of the stands.
That aside however, this match was exceptional and it was United who took the game to their Spanish opponents in the early stages as their defence looked lost without their leader Carles Puyol. Ji- Sung Park has been a revelation for the Red Devils this season and put in three decisive challenges – including one on Leo Messi – which demonstrated the kind of character and determination exuberating around the whole team in the opening 10 minutes. United could have even went ahead as Wayne Rooney almost latched onto a through ball but goalkeeper Victor Valdes – who many still question his ability- came rushing out to deny the Englishman. But where that was good anticipation, it was perhaps fortuitous that Gerard Pique’s back pass under pressure from United’s Javier Hernandez did not go past him moments later.
Although after this initial early pressure from United, Barcelona started to stamp their authority on the match and created chance after chance. But they were thwarted by the excellent defending of Nemanja Vidic – who was unfortunate to be on the losing side- however Barca’s pressure soon proved too much as they opened the scoring through Pedro Rodriguez on 27 minutes. It was a lovely goal and epitomised the Spanish’s style of play as Busquets and Andres Iniesta played a one-two, fed the ball into orchestrator Xavi- he darted unopposed towards the United defence before playing an exquisite pass- with the outside of the foot- to Pedro who evaded Vidic’s challenge slotting the ball past Edwin Van der Sar at his near post.
It was the type of goal we had come to expect of Pep Guardiola’s men, a style which has manifested itself in the Catalans – and bares the hallmark of the Dutch total football from the 1980’s. It is no coincidence that Barca have picked up this attractive play. Former Barcelona manager Frank Rikjaard was a Dutch superstar thirty years ago. Guardiola has only smoothed off the rough edges of the style shaping his team into one of the best the world has ever seen.
But if Barca expected the Red Devils to roll over and appease them they were sorely mistaken. Ryan Giggs who perhaps might have taken out a super-injunction for this match as he was fairly anonymous throughout- even the linesman failed to spot that he had strayed into an offside position for Alex Ferguson’s side equaliser on 34 minutes. Despite that the goal was as good as any made in Catalonia. Rooney played a one-two with Michael Carrick before -baring a similar resemblance to Xavi's pass previously -dinking the ball with the outside of his foot into the path of the Welshman who set up Rooney to curl the ball past the despairing dive of Valdes in goal.
The animation witnessed on Ferguson’s face only moments before had lifted and been replaced by joy. But Barca came roaring back and almost took the lead twice before the first half ended. A free kick worked off the training ground as Xavi rolled the ball into Busquets before threading a pass through to Pedro almost made it 2-1. Then Messi went on one of his trademark runs before finding David Villa, the Spaniard then laid the ball into the Argentine’s path but the last ditch challenge by Vidic did enough to put the striker off and the sides went in level at half-time.
Nevertheless United’s defence would be breached again as Xavi and Iniesta orchestrated the play in the final third – a wave of unrelenting Barca attack eventually took its toll and it was Messi who delivered a severe blow to the Red Devils cup aspirations by surging forward and hitting a curling shot beyond the clutches of Van der Sar- who perhaps might have felt he should have done better as the ball was fairly centre of the goal.
The Dutchman soon made up for his unusually poor goalkeeping by producing a string of stunning saves to deny Xavi and co. But he could do absolutely nothing about Barca’s third. Ferguson would have been raging with the sloppy defending in the lead up to the goal. Substitute Nani – who’d only recently came on- surrendered possession in United’s box, the Spaniards' took full advantage as the ball was laid back to Villa at the edge of the D, and he took a touch for control before producing a dipping curling shot beyond the 40-year-old. It was a fantastic piece of skill and thoroughly merited.
United had a couple of chances towards the end – Rooney tried to find the top corner with a curling effort but it only found the roof of the net, and Giggs felt that United should have had a penalty late on but the referee waved play on. Ultimately, it would be the Spaniards' that would go on to lift the coveted trophy.
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