By Graig Carbino - ALBANY, NY (May 27, 2009) -- European soccer’s 54th final has now officially been decided. The epic battle pitting Manchester United against Barcelona in Rome is in the books. If you haven’t seen it yet, hold off on reading further. Once you’ve had a chance to review the tape come on back and tell us what you thought.
Pre-game (2:30pm EST): We are here again for the second year in a row of Champion’s League Final coverage from my living room. More paid time off used for me, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Who wants to take Fridays off for golf and sun in the summer anyway? Not me…
The starting line-ups for this one are in and will play out as follows:
Barcelona (4-3-3) Valdes - Puyol, Toure, Pique, Sylvinho - Xavi Hernandes, Busquets, Iniesta - Messi, Eto’o, Henry.
Manchester United (4-3-3) van der Sar - O’Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra - Anderson, Carrick, Giggs - Park, Ronaldo, Rooney.
So we know the storyline here. It’s Messi v. Ronaldo and it should be a lot of fun. As I mentioned last year, these Champion’s League finals tend to sway towards the disappointing, sort of like the Super Bowl. With the attacking talent of Barcelona you would hope they would come out to play. My sense pre-game is that unfortunately they will not. Maybe an early goal from the Red Devils changes that.
United will most likely go defensive as well with Park and Rooney dropping into the midfield to mark some of Barca’s stars. Sir Alex has typically played it safe in these type of finals. From a neutral point of view I would certainly be hoping for an early strike from Barcelona. This, you would think, might force Ferguson to loosen the reigns a bit and allow his players to push for an equalizer. Having the option to throw on Berbatov and Tevez late isn’t a bad thing either.
If I remember correctly, this is the second straight year of crummy weather here in the northeast for the Final. Not that I’d be doing anything else even if it was a gorgeous day out. My roommate has decided to sit and watch with me. Not a soccer fan in the least but he is into the competition. I am hoping for an up and down display to convert another one over to the good side, we’ll see what happens.
Here comes the trophy and I must say, that is a terrible outfit. Now the players are coming out to Bocelli. As expected, they all look a bit shaky and nervous. Ronaldo has this smugness about him that I find real tough to take. Still, if he stands over a free kick inside 30 yards I am going to be right on the edge of my seat.
Games is about to start. Nice touch giving Giggs the captains armband tonight. Back periodically throughout the first-half.
2nd minute - Wow. Ronaldo right off the bat. Dumb foul there taking down Anderson. Obvious case of nerves in the first minute. Ronaldo smashes one toward Valdes who cannot hang on and Park is blocked on the rebound. I have to assume that would have been the quickest goal in Champion’s League final history. We are off to fast start.
9th minute - Ronaldo is all over the place so far. Same thing as last year. Let’s see if he can a) put one in to open this thing up and/or b) keep it up for the whole game. He faded badly last year in Moscow.
10th minute - Just as I finish typing that Eto’o scores for Barcelona. Sloppy defending there from United. They dominated for 10 minutes and now, on Barca’s first foray up field, they are down. Nice finish by Eto’o but he was allowed to waltz in untouched. I thought van der Sar could have also done a bit more at his near post, but that may be asking a bit much.
17th minute - Another chance for Ronaldo, or maybe Giggs. Ronaldo just toyed with Pique, who had to take him down on the edge of the box and was handed a well deserved yellow card. Giggs takes and sends this one over.
19th minute - Both teams seem to be settling in as Messi smashes a shot just over. Ronaldo comes down the other end and tries his luck again. Valdes needs some treatment after a collision with Ji Sung Park.
Looking back at the goal and Vidic was ultimately the last player beat. I sing his praises all the time, but he needed to do better to stand Eto’o up there.
27th minute - Iniesta with the free kick just wide. The announcers seem to think that this ball is doing some crazy things tonight. Not sure if I really buy that. Whenever a great player hit’s a ball the right way it is going to move. Needless to say, there are a bunch of great players in this game tonight.
33rd minute - Has anyone seen Wayne Rooney? Henry? Messi and Ronaldo have pulled the strings so far as anticipated. United have gone into a shell since giving up the goal and Barcelona is trying to pass them to death.
42nd minute - Manchester United are devoid of ideas and I get the feeling that Barca could invent something special whenever they need to. Nothing so far from Anderson or Giggs or Carrick really. This one is crying out for someone like Paul Scholes who can pick out a killer pass with the best of them.
Half-time (3:30pm EST) We’ve made it to the interval and if I were a United fan I would be seriously worried right now. They flew out of the gates and Ronaldo looked like he would surely score early. Then all of sudden Barcelona scores on their first attack and ManU looks like a deer in headlights.
United need to get some control in the middle of the field and try to pass the ball, at least a little bit. I know they do play the long ball fairly regularly but it doesn’t seem to be working so well up to this point. Also, someone (Anderson, Carrick) needs to stop Iniesta in midfield. He was allowed to walk right down the middle and play the final pass to Eto’o right before the goal.
Barcelona survived a few early scares and came up with a huge goal. That early score allowed them to settle in for the rest of the half and play their passing game to its best. They play “one-two’s” and give-and-go’s all over the field and look ready to score a second if given an inch.
It will be interesting to see if Ferguson makes an early change or two in the second half. Maybe bring on Tevez or Berbatov for some added offensive threat. I’d love to see Scholes on for Anderson. Also, will Barca go in to protect mode with the lead or come out and continue to play? Half number two is on the way.
46th minute - Anderson goes off for Tevez. Looks like Giggs will slide into the middle with Park on the left and Rooney out on the right.
49th minute - Great save by van der Sar on Henry. O’Shea was caught way up field and Henry had free range to run at and then beat Ferdinand. Both United center backs have now been beaten one on one. That might have been game, set and match Barca if not for the Dutchman in the United net. The Catalan club are toying with their opponents right now as Iniesta goes down near the edge of the box.
53rd minute - Xavi off the post! van der Sar was late getting across and it looks like the Varsity vs. the JV out there right now.
57th minute - Nice cross from Rooney just misses Ronaldo and Park. I know its obvious to most but Messi and Iniesta are absolute beasts out there. You CANNOT get the ball off of them. Iniesta in particular has been great at winning and keeping possession down the middle for Barcelona. Xavi is no slouch in their either.
62nd minute - United starting to creep back into things here as an over hit pass from Carrick just evades Rooney and goes out for a goal kick. Rooney, as you might expect, is less than pleased. Paul Scholes is warming up and should come in for Carrick or Giggs ASAP. Rooney breaks down the right and Pique saves the day again to clear out for Barca.
66th minute - Park is out and Berbatov comes on. Ferguson isn’t waiting around any longer to push for the equalizer. Ronaldo will have to play down the left now in place of Park. Carrick looked worried that he might be the one coming off, but alas he stays on. Barcelona starting to sit a bit deep right now but will look to counter whenever given the opportunity.
70th minute - Goal Messi! Xavi plays a great cross to Messi who is WIDE open and heads in back across van der Sar. Henry comes off for Seydou Keita who will try to close up shop for Barcelona. United comes down the other end though and Ronaldo is blocked a few feet out by Valdes.
73rd minute - Despite that last chance for United I really do not see them getting back into this game. Ronaldo fouls Puyol deep into ManU territory as Barcelona threaten for a third. Puyol heads straight at van der Sar off the ensuing free kick. Scholes on for Giggs.
79th minute - Ronaldo is booked for a dumb foul on Puyol. The Barca captain has completely taken Ronaldo out of his game in the second half. He is an overly emotional player who seems to struggle mentally when things do not go his way. Scholes shows his hideous tackling ability with a real nasty one on Busquets. He could have actually gone off for that scissor challenge.
84th minute - The ole’s are out as Barcelona are passing Manchester United to sleep. Puyol sneaks in down the right and tries to finish things off but van der Sar is there again. If things finish like this my man of the match goes to the Barcelona right back. He has been a chasing, scraping, tough battler from the opening whistle tonight.
88th minute - United have had some chances tonight but have not really looked much like scoring after that 2nd minute Ronaldo free kick. It really hasn’t been a contest of a million chances, but Barcelona have clearly done much better with their opportunities.
90th minute - Three minutes added on as Vidic thwarts Messi in the ManU penalty area.
92nd minute - Pedro Rodriguez on for Iniesta. Great game tonight for Iniesta who’s goal in the last round sent Barcelona into the final.
93rd minute - Final Whistle - Barcelona 2 - Manchester United 0
Full time (4:35pm EST) Manchester United were great for the first ten minutes tonight, Barcelona owned the final eighty. Messi and Iniesta were brilliant for Barcelona who also can thank Puyol and Pique for their work at the back. The young Busquets, who wont turn twenty-one until July, should also be very proud of his performance tonight.
Wayne Rooney never got going for Manchester United, who were really only left with Ronaldo to do any damage up front. Tevez and Berbatov came on but weren’t able to add too much in the end.
When it is all said and done Barcelona really deserve their victory. They passed it better, converted their chances and just flat-out wanted this one more. Ronaldo is a great talent, Messi and Iniesta were better tonight.
There is my take on this seasons Champions League Final. What did you think of the game? Did you expect Barcelona to dominate the way they did? What about Messi vs. Ronaldo? Please share your thoughts below.
