Uzair Rizvi for BeyondHeadlines
Barcelona overpowered Manchester United by 3-1 in the Champions League final at Wembley, their third European title in Six years. Inspired by peerless Lionel Messi whose solo strike from the edge of the area left the united defenders clueless. The champions of Spain are now the champions of Europe.
The atmosphere was perfect a nearly full to the capacity Wembley roared when these two teams made their way on to the pitch. Man Utd repeated 2009 final like opening performance with a good first 10 minutes possession and game play. Soon Barca got back into their rhythm and started frustrating their opponents.
Pedro Rodriguez opened the scoring book with his fine finish after a master class through ball from Xavi. Their celebrations were short lived as United bounced back within 6 minutes when some brilliant one-two from Wayne Rooney earned him a goal.
Messi was millimeters away after another fantastic run and go with Villa, but some-how United ended the first half on level-terms.
Second half was no different as the Catalans composed themselves and were clearly looking for a second goal, when from nowhere the little magician scored a screamer from outside the goal area .United defenders made fatal errors which allowed the Argentine to score his 53rd goal of his remarkable season.
Few minutes later DavidVilla’s curled a shot into the top corner from the edge of the box. That was a perfect icing on the cake.
Man Utd were clearly outclassed, their mid-fielders looked puzzled; Spaniards dominated the whole proceedings with their passing and possession.
United opted for Carrick instead of experienced Fletcher and Valencia looked more on ground than on his feet.Utd never looked like playing from the flanks, their wingers were more in and defending rather than controlling.Chicharito’s attacking absence was the biggest disappointment, his runs were untimed which caught him three times in the offside trap.
Paul Scholes and a surprise omission Carlos Puyol later got subbed in to get a standing ovation , which might be the last game for the earlier one bringing an end to a legend’s era.
Van Der Sar playing his last game of the career was magnificent but the ‘MVP’Messi-Villa-Pedro were successful in beating him, though he made some spectacular saves to which denied Barca some braces. The game brought an End to an illustrious career of this great Dutch.
The Xavi-Iniesta Circus indeed caused them great problems. They way the eased on and passed the ball never looked like being under any sort of pressure in this big game. Xavi orchestrated the game in front of Busqets,while Iniesta and Mesi tormented United with their pin-point accurate passing. Their short passing pushed Utd on backfoot in their own half which allowed Barca’s backline to join their mid-fielders in passing.
Barcelona won their 2nd silverware of the season and now would be ranked among the footballs truly great clubs. With 4 European titles only Liverpool, AC Milan and their arch-rivals Real Madrid are ahead of them.
