United outplayed for eighty minutes as Barca lift Big Ears
Gutted
By Chris,
May 27 2009
Congratulations to Barcelona and to Pep Guardiola for their European triumph following Wednesday evening's 2-0 victory. They were worthy winners and have now sealed a fine Treble. The Red Devils were outplayed for long periods as goals from Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi ended United’s hopes of retaining their Champions League crown.
I'm not going to jump on the media bandwagon of firing a series of plaudits at the Barcelona team. They played well. Not as well as the BBC's Phil McNulty would have you believe - describing Barca's display as a "footballing masterclass" - but even the most ardent Red cannot deny that the Catalan giants were worthy winners on Wednesday evening.
As expected, Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez were both on
the bench. Cristiano Ronaldo was pushed forward with Wayne Rooney and Ji-Sung Park taking the flanks. Michael Carrick,
Anderson and Ryan Giggs sat in the middle of the park.
For ten minutes, United bossed proceedings. Barca 'keeper
Victor Valdes fumbled Ronaldo's free-kick after only two minutes and Park came
close to bundling home the rebound. The Portuguese winger, rather greedily,
then fired two long-range efforts inches wide as the Reds aimed to stamp their
authority on the game.
However, Barca grabbed the lead on ten minutes against the
run of play and, from there, controlled the game. Eto'o easily beat Nemanja
Vidic before brushing his shot passed Edwin van der Sar. The defender and
'keeper should probably have done better - but Barca had their lead and never
looked back.
United seemed to run out of ideas very quickly. Michael
Carrick was charged with the responsibility of driving play forward - but his
long passes were too often snuffed out by Barca's makeshift backline. Ronaldo
was soon pushed out wide and Rooney forward but, at the break, it was clear that
a change of tact and Fergie's famous hairdryer were both necessary.
Tevez was thrown on for Anderson - again ineffective - at the break
as United pushed men forward; but it was to no avail. Barca, however, looked
far more likely to score with Thierry Henry and Xavi both going close.
Desperation started to set in and Berbatov was thrown on from the bench with Ferguson left hoping his
famous attacking quarter could conjure up a special moment.
The result was sealed with twenty minutes to go as Messi met
Xavi's long chip with a superb header that gave Edwin van der Sar no chance. United's
travelling army kept singing - hoping for a comeback in Rome that would probably even have eclipsed
the heroics of '99 but it simply wasn't to be as Swiss official Massimo Busacca
brought an end to proceedings after three minutes of frustrating injury-time.
I'm gutted. Barcelona
deserved it and United's performance was well below-par from the rest of the
season. We've lost a European final and it hurts - but the Reds can have no
complaints. It's so easy to forget that United have secured a memorable Treble
this season; winning the league championship, the League Cup and the FIFA Club
World Cup but that won't quell any disappointment in the United ranks following
this bitterly disappointing display.
Roll on the summer.
Full Time - Barcelona 2-0 Manchester United
Attendance - 72,700
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Premer league
League cup
FiFA World Club Champions - the fist English club to do so
The charity shield.
Not a bad season if you include a FA Cup Semi final defeat and losing tonight in the final. Overall a very good season.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:05:27:23:24:17 by emptyred.
We'll be back for more in August!
We've seen plenty of times how much more of an attacking force we are with the four on the pitch but yet again it was left until we were behind to play them.
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But you lost to the best team in Europe, no shame in that.
It did make my night though
I think our lineup was a mistake. Yes, we missed Fletch and gave them way too muchspace and room but Ronaldo upfront alone? We needed Tevez along side him from the start.
Their opening goal killed us, completely knocked the stuffing out of us. Rooney, Giggs, Vida.. i could go on, they all had poor games.
Hell, we cant win everything all the time.
Great season once again. Thanks lads, enjoy the sunmmer
In fact we lost this game because we had no midfield.
Anderson is a passenger.
Giggs is respectable but older and with Anderson 'absent', that makes it two players missing.
Ronaldo had his chances and missed.
Then Ronaldo smirks, sneers or looks to Portuguese gods when someone else misses.
Scholes and Tevez did nothing.
Roony ran the field but one man doesn't count when the team is supposed to be 11 men.
Above all, Barcelona were prolific on the night. Even our lads were admiring Lionel Messi every time he possesed the ball. They were in complete awe when he headed between two people and found the net. Barcelona deserve it, they played at a level that made us look very average.
Our season has been an excellent one, despite this set-back. I think when you have so much success, it's easy to want more and more and more and forget that just winning the premiership itself is still an awesome achievement, given the talent out there.
