Buzzin Football

Yesterday evening in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Barcelona convincingly beat Manchester United to win the Champions League trophy for the third time in their history.  That fact was a surprise to me, as was the way they completely outplayed Man Utd and dominated the match.

In the first 10 minutes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United had three efforts on goal, as they pinned a startled Barcelona back into their own half.  With three of their four first team defenders missing through injury or suspension and Thierry Henry and Andres Iniesta passing late fitness test, like many people I spoke to, I expected Man Utd to beat Barcelona.

But after soaking up the pressure for 10 minutes Barcelona swept forward in a free flowing counter attack that resulted in Samuel Eto’o tricking his way past Nemanja Vidic and beating Edwin Van Der Sar at his near post.

From then on Barcelona bossed the midfield, and with it the entire game.  Ryan Giggs and Anderson were midfield pedestrians as they watched the stars of the show – Iniesta and Xavi.

In the semi-finals, Manchester United absolutely annihilated a good Arsenal team, while Chelsea contained Barcelona over two legs by cancelling out Barcelona’s midfield dominance, short passing ‘give and go’ style of total football, and most importantly man-marked Lionel Messi out of the game.  Barcelona had one chance in the second leg against Chelsea, and scored.

Though Man Utd have played for much of the season with a solid defence, it is not their way to cancel out another team in the way Chelsea did against Barca.  Manchester United’s philosophy is to score more goals than their opponents.  But Barcelona gave them little opportunity to do that, and in the second half, with United having to sacrifice a more balanced formation for attacking options, United became more exposed, leaving Lionel Messi to punish them in the way he was not able to do against Chelsea.

With second half substitutes Carlos Tevez & Dimitri Berbatov joining Wayne Rooney & Cristiano Ronaldo, and Man Utd looking like they might get back into the game, Barcelona hit them on the counter attack again, resulting in a sublime header by Lionel Messi from a Xavi cross.

As the final whistle blew I have never seen the Manchester United players look so shocked.  They don’t get beaten that often.  But more over, I have never seen them totally outplayed before, which I think was the reason for the stunned expressions. That said it was great to see both Alex Ferguson and the players being so magnanimous in defeat.  Ronaldo was last to collect a losers medal and made a point of shaking hands with the Barca players, as they waited in line to receive their winners medals.  A close up of a sincere Alex Ferguson applauding Barcelona as they received medals from Michel Platini.  I know Chelsea’s fury was aimed at the referee and not Barcelona in the semi-finals, but admitting defeat to a better team so soon after the event is a great advert for the game.

So, will Cristiano Ronaldo be facing Lionel Messi again next season?  Victory in the Champions League gave Barcelona their first ever treble, along with the La Liga title and the Spanish Cup and Pep Guardiola his second winners’ medal – he also won the trophy in 1992 as a Barcelona player.

Their closest rivals, Real Madrid need to rebuild if they are to seriously challenge Barcelona domestically, next season.  No doubt the ‘Ronaldo to Real’ will once again be alive and kicking by the time you read this.