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| UEFA Champions League 2011 Champions |
Extraordinary match, deserved victory, euro goals etc. but all come at one point SUPER BARCA 2011 UEFA Champions League Champions.
Barcelona 3 Manchester Utd 1
Lionel Messi scored one goal and created another today to lead Barcelona to a 3-1 win over Manchester United and a third Champions League title in six years.
Lionel Messi scored one goal and created another today to lead Barcelona to a 3-1 win over Manchester United and a third Champions League title in six years.
Barcelona dominated possession at Wembley with trademark one-touch passing but needed the Argentina striker to conjure a 54th-minute solo strike from the edge of the area to take the lead for the second time.
There seemed to be no space as Messi was tracked across the 18-meter (yard) line by fullback Patrice Evra, but the two-time world player of the year spotted a gap between the central defenders and hit a shot down the middle, beating goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar for pace.
Messi followed his 53rd goal of a remarkable season with a feint and run that eventually led to David Villa receiving possession on the edge of the area, from where the Spain striker curled a shot into the top corner.
With Pedro Rodriguez scoring Barcelona's opening goal midway through the first half from an imaginative through ball from stand-in captain Xavi Hernandez, the win was as comprehensive as its 2-0 victory over United in the final two years ago.
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| ALL HAIL JOSEP GUARDIOLA |
The performance was so comfortable that Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was able to bring on regular captain Carles Puyol for the last few moments, giving the injury-hit defender the chance to play a part in a memorable triumph.
But in a gesture symbolizing Barcelona's team ethic, Puyol handed the armband over to Eric Abidal -- whose place in the team had been in doubt after he had surgery this season to remove a liver tumor -- and the France defender lifted the famous trophy.
United improved upon its 2009 final performance in Rome and did equalize in the 34th through Wayne Rooney, but could do little to disrupt Europe's dominant footballing force.
Commentators had said before the game that Barcelona, which had already won a third straight Spanish league title, would be ranked among football's truly great sides with victory over United.
Now, only Liverpool, AC Milan and Barcelona's fierce rival Real Madrid have won more European Cups than the Catalan club's four.
After a shaky opening, Barcelona simply outclassed the English champions.
Xavi orchestrated play from in front of Sergio Busquets, while Andres Iniesta and Messi tormented United with the pinpoint accuracy of their passing.
For half an hour, the match followed the same pattern as the 2009 final. United unsettled Barcelona with constant pressure on the man in possession and dominated the first 10 minutes before the Spanish league champions burst into life.
Barcelona's short-passing game pushed the United players deep into their own half and kept them there, with Xavi, Villa, Iniesta and Messi finding space where none seemed to exist.
But Barcelona had to wait 17 minutes longer for its opening goal than it did in 2009. Xavi created the chance as he drew four opponents to him by dribbling to the edge of the area.
The midfielder laid a diagonal pass through that crowd of players into the path of Pedro, who arrived down the right channel to hit a firm shot past Van der Sar at his near post.
United responded in the only way it seemed able, returning to the pressing game that served it well in the opening stages. It yielded a goal within seven minutes as, from its own throw, Barcelona gave away possession on the right touchline - sparking a five-player move as skillful as any in the match.
Rio Ferdinand, Fabio da Silva and Michael Carrick were all involved before Rooney carried the ball to the edge of the area and, slipping it to Ryan Giggs with the outside of his right boot, continued his run.
The veteran Giggs controlled with one touch and knocked it back to with his second, giving Rooney the perfect opportunity to curl a shot past the reach of goalkeeper Victor Valdes and in at the far post.
In one sublime Champions League final, football got two emphatic answers.
One: this Barcelona squad, absolutely without question now, is among that small fistful of teams that can legitimately be considered the best club sides ever.
Two: Lionel Messi is as good as Pele and Diego Maradona ever were.
No ifs, or buts, or maybes. Just facts. Proven on the green pitch of Wembley and by the shattered hearts of Manchester United.
The final scoreline on Saturday said 3-1. But that was kind. It could have been worse, far worse, for Alex Ferguson's players. They weren't just beaten, they were humbled. Not merely outplayed and outthought, but utterly outclassed, too.
"In my time as manager, it's the best team I've faced," said Ferguson, who is a quarter-century, and counting, at the United helm.
Not that there's any shame in being overshadowed by perfection. United's white-shirted worker-ants, as one expects of any team fielded by Ferguson, a master motivator, did not surrender, did not stop running, did not let their heads droop.
They dignified themselves by not losing their tempers, which would have been so easy because Barcelona rarely shares the ball. Barca's winning recipe includes a big dollop of selfishness.
Once it had snuffed out United's spirited start to the match, Barca's triumph quickly started to take on an air of inevitability. Even Wayne Rooney's cleverly worked and sweetly struck goal on 34 minutes could only delay, not change, United's fate.
Ferguson once coined the term "carousel" to describe Barca's dizzying passing game. At Wembley, it span ever quicker as the match wore on. Between them, Barca's super-trio of Messi and midfield partners Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez completed 305 passes - four more than the entire United team.
So if Barca can do this to mighty United twice in three years, then what hope is there next season for them and all the other teams in Europe?
Not much. Not, that is, if Pep Guardiola sticks around.
The Barca manager has done more than take an already good team and make it nigh-on unbeatable, he is presiding over what looks like the makings of a dynasty. In three years, Guardiola has 10 titles. He spoke wearily before the match of the mental and physical toll exacted by leading a club of such high expectations, which fueled suspicions that he may move elsewhere. Still, it's not a stretch to think that in another three years, his title-tally could be doubled if he stays.
Messi, remember, only turns 24 next month. There are plenty more goals, plenty more goal-making passes, left in the speedy little legs of the Argentine who finished as the Champions League top scorer for the third season running and who must now be a dead-cert for a third consecutive world player of the year award.
Messi conjured his goal at Wembley out of nothing, really. A pass from Iniesta, a sprint into the box, a shot so fast that it caught everyone off-guard. It was now-you-see-it, now-you-don't magic and gave Barca the lead for good. That made 12 goals in the Champions League this season for Messi, matching Ruud van Nistelrooy's single-season record of 2002/2003.
"Lionel is the best player I have seen and probably the best I will ever see," said Guardiola.
Amen to that.
For United, the future looks less certain. Ryan Giggs won't get any younger, nor will Paul Scholes, and Edwin van der Sar didn't get the winner's medal he hoped for in his last match.
Ferguson has rebuilding work to do.
Barcelona has hegemony to enjoy.
For all of you that didn't watch the match LIVE here is a link to download it with a torrent program http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6431353/FC_Barcelona_vs_Manchester_United_-_verbateen[dbdrip][spanish]
From the mesmerising skills of Lionel Messi to the boundless enthusiasm of fans at the UEFA Champions Festival, the week leading to FC Barcelona's fourth success at European football's top table proved a memorable experience.
London's Hyde Park played host to fan-related activities throughout the week, with supporters inspired to participate as well as to record their link to the game's elite level by having photographs taken with the UEFA Champions League Trophy.
The UEFA Women's Champions League Trophy was also on parade and would be held aloft by Olympique Lyonnais on Thursday evening at Craven Cottage, the French team having dethroned 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam.
A pulsating atmosphere at Fulham FC was followed by one at the Wembley showpiece, where 87,695 witnessed a scintillating spectacle on Saturday evening. Before that, the Ultimate Champions had played out their own entertainment with a legends match at the UEFA ChampiImpostazioni
ons Festival.
Party day ends for players with Shakira
The Barça players rounded off the celebrations for the winning of the Champions League on Sunday with a VIP visit to Shakira’s concert at the Olympic Stadium.
Gerard Piqué, Xavi, David Villa, Bojan and Busquets all came out onto the stage during the concert and Víctor Valdés, Éric Abidal and Dani Alves were also in attendance at the concert held at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadiums. When the song, ‘Whenever, Wherever’, mixed with some licks from ‘Unbelievable’ began, Shakira brought out the Barça number 3 and he was followed by Xavi, Pedro, Villa and Busquets. Shakira declared herself to be thrilled to be “alongside half of the best team in the world”.
The players tried their best to follow Shakira’s dancing and with a cry of ‘Visca el Barça!’ one of the top international artists of the entertainment world put an end to a fantastic day of parties for all the Barça players and fans.
