To say it in few words, the best side won. Even if I had to swallow all my pride, the Catalonians did the best to outclass the Mancunian side in a trembling match. If the Gunners had any hopes for ten minutes at their ground in the previous leg of the semifinals, the same happened to the English side. In any case the clash between titans evidently threw only one winner, which resulted to be the Spanish one. I though that at times the Manchester team were not even a shade of what they were in the previous two seasons. Simply Barcelona outclassed, outshoned and overwhelmed them in every departement to find a one-way entrance to goal.
The failure of the English side to secure the first consecutive win in the histpry of the tournament was shadowed by the Spanish style. Impressively the underdogs were the Spanish, and alongside the gargantuan amount of positive impressions of English media on the Manchester side, Barcelona won fairly.
The crème de la crème of European hierachy was summoned in the Eternal city; from Platini, to Prime Minister Zapatero through Prince William, followed by Berlusconi for what has been poised as the "greatest match in the history of football." Obviously the heat of the moment neglect any rational thought from this utterance. Any final played by Nottingham Forest back in the sixties, 1999's final, Liverpool's epic comeback to name a few, can be recorded as the most impressive and outstanding matches in the history of the competition, but certainly not of the history of the beatiful game.
The outstanding covergae of the match, with a preview a midtime analysis and a post match review led by Martin Tyler was just marvelous. I have to say that I enjoyed the comments and the match development by the crew of Sky Sports. Just one advice, get ride of that idiot of Jamie Redknap.
Profet in his land? Well, debutant and with a treble, can anyone ask for more?
In the afore mentioned preview, startingly enough Cristiano Ronaldo said that the attention should be driven on the teams rather that his "conforntation" with Messi. I really could not believe the words from the Portuguese since we all know the incredible halo of god-like arrogance that surmounts around him.
Despite the fact that Barcelona had an all-patchedup defense, the trouble came from the Spanish midfield maestro Xavi.
Not even a minute had passed and Cristiano Ronaldo found himself with an incredible 20-meter free kick, which was clumsily deflected by Valdez with later help from Pique, who cleared the ball to prevent Park from scoring. After the 7th minute, Cristiano had two chances, the latter made with a lovely chest control just wide. Then in the 10th minute, the "goal machine" named by Tyler, awoke through a brilliant play by Iniesta who set Eto'o and later finished, after a lovely chop, on van der Saar's goal. The nightmare for the English fans and players in the field began when immediately after the Spanish lead Xavi controlled of the game. The pressure of the Catalonians on Machester's clearances were amazingly choking; the wide three strikers left the void place in the middle for the three Spanish midfielders, thus the superiority of the Catalan midfield.
Utd simply were not able to throw a simple long ball through ten minutes, due to the overwhelming pressure, possession and taleted Barcelona midfield. Not even one chance came from the "visitors" and from the 25th to the 35th the Catalonian side gave one ball away. From then on reaching the final minutes, Ferguson's men attempts were delayed when entering to cross-zone. Barcelona's defense was whimsically fit and while Ronaldo tried for the most part to overcome the defensive line it was obvious that the control would be, for at least the following half, for the Spanish side.
At the end the rat got his trophy, the question remains if it is the side wich he wanted it with. I am glad for Sylvinho.
With what appeared to be the weak link for Barcelona actually proved to be the most important: Barcelona's defense. Within large periods of the second part the Spanish side kept possession while Utd were not able to challenge. Van der Saar denied Henry's attempt in the 49th as well as Eto'o's in 50th. Xavi's shot on woodwork and an alleged penalty on Messi, not even reaching the 55th minute, proved the fact that the Mancunians were running like headless chickens. The moments when the English side tried to speculate with the ball immediately the Spanish midfield commanded by Xavi recovered and distributed the ball.
Twice Giggs failed to give Park a through ball, mainly because he was tired. While the attempts from Man Utd came by the minute it was obvious that in one of those deadly counters, with all the open spaces, would result in a goal. And eventually it appeared, and in what a way! Messi headed a perfect Xavi cross to give the Spaniards a good advantage deep into the game. The goal was a cameo of Mancester's game; a powerless defensive apparatus against an accurate and incisive connection between the mifield and the forward.
After the goal, the Catalonian side relaxed for large parts of the remaining twenty minutes while Man Utd decided at last, to attack, more with the obligation and desperation than with decision or talent. Now it did not seem as if there was another three-minute two-goal miracle on the work due to the way the "visiting" were playing, or even to the tired and diffult opposition they faced. Desparation was reflected on the nasty tackle by Scholes on Busquets.
The match ended quite arduous, with nothing left to play from a brilliant display by the Spanish side: three minutes for stoppage and the new European Champions are FC Barcelona.
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