Manchester United went into the match with a 19th Premeir League title,high hopes and expectations, especially after the Ryan Giggs controversey and the fact that both Scholes and Van Der Saar may be retiring after the end of the 2010/11 season.
Barcelona had the psychological advantage in that they had beat United in the same finals 2-0 in 2009, won two Spanish titles: La Liga (Premiership) and Supercopa de España (Supercup) this year, and; hailed as the next Diego Maradona; Argentinian Lionel Messi.
United started the match well, passing the ball under control and taking shots as soon as they could, hoping to get a comfortable lead. However, this was no mere English side they were playing, Barcelona kept their cool, used their stamina and fought fire with MORE fire! Whereas Man Utd passed and drove forward, Barcelona did the same but also knew that attacking Man Utd was not a solo task,they sent several players up each time! By the 15 minute mark, Barcelona began to break even with Man Utd in terms of control,and scored the first goal of the night on the 27 minute mark (a mid level power shot by Pedrito).
Man Utd woke up from this and reignited their fire, Wayne Rooney equalised at 34 minutes with a superb shot into the top corner.
Man Utd supporters believed that Sir Alex's wise words over the break would motivate them to victory in the second half. However, Utd's strength kept ebbing away and Messi seemed to have limitless stamina! A shot by him in the 54th minute seemed too far away to pose a threat and one would assume that either it would hit the post, go wide or be saved; maybe with an average player this would be true but not with Messi! The person hailed as the World's Greatest made it 2-1!
United became more aggressive as the minutes ticked by, most notably this was seen with Antonio Valencia's constant fouling and Man Utd's mad-dashed to the other side's goal. However, even with aggression and pressure, Barcelona neutralised Man Utd by keeping a tight defence and, for every attacking player, three Barcelona defenders and holders neutralised him and regained the ball.
Man Utd brought on Nani in the hope that his talent and youth would turn the tide, this was not to be as Barcelona soon scored within two minutes of this swap with a goal from David Villa at 69 minutes. Part of the World Cup Winning Spanish National team, Villa made it 3-1!
Even bringing on the veteran Paul Scholes was not enough for Man Utd, they just could not breathe let alone score! By 80 minutes, everyone knew the match was over as Barcelona had MORE THAN 65% POSSESSION!
As the whistle blew on the 93 minute mark, Man Utd knew that they did not play bad, in fact, if it was any other team they may have clinched a third title! However, they were not playing just any team, they were playing FC Barcelona- the world's greatest fútbol team.
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