UEFA Champions Lge Final - FC Barcelona vs Manchester United

[OBF-MKE]

On one hand, I respect starting Hernandez for the whole "at our best we can beat your best" thing, but on the other hand, it's either inept, arrogant or wishing to believe such a thing.

Great game. Xavi, Messi and Iniesta were sublime.

[5DOM]

Thought Xavi would be the MoM, but can't go wrong with Messi

[bryant08]

I wasn't here, but this was my prediction:

Chicharito 34th minute

Messi 57th Minutes

and

Pedro 73rd minute.

Not too bad, Man U actually scored on the 34th minute and Messi's wasn't too far off. Great game, although a bit too predictable for me. The way it was going in the first 10 minutes I realized that this was "just another game" for Barca. Usually good teams come out and look impressive in the first 10 minutes until Barca gains control and then Barca just dominates the rest of the way, and that's basically how it worked out.

GREAT GAME

I've got a lot of respect for the performance Barca put in today and no doubt they had United way over their heads, but c'mon now - United dominates the first ten minutes and it's obvious to you Barca will gain control and dominate the rest of the way because it's happened in the past?!?

If you weren't crapping your pants with United's start to that match you must've been seeing something no one else was, United looked dangerous as ever pressuring the ball relentlessly and nearly causing Pique to pass one into his own net. Maybe after the next 10 minutes, you could see the tide turning and Barca imposing their will on the match (and from there perhaps sensing the trend you mentioned previously), but those first ten it looked like United had their gameplan sorted and Barca wouldn't get anything easy, especially in midfield.

However, Barca's skill level took over the game, incredible passing, Messi/Xavi were sublime and United couldn't sniff sustained possession the rest of the way.

[lobishome]

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!


... And I won 200 $ .



Xabi

[5DOM]

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!


... And I won 200 $ .



Xabi

You mean XaVi?

[lobishome]

it sounds the same in spanish, and the man who invented the keyboard has put "b" and "v" together

Xabi is watching the game in the beach

[Lionel Messi]

I wasn't here, but this was my prediction:

Chicharito 34th minute

Messi 57th Minutes

and

Pedro 73rd minute.

Not too bad, Man U actually scored on the 34th minute and Messi's wasn't too far off. Great game, although a bit too predictable for me. The way it was going in the first 10 minutes I realized that this was "just another game" for Barca. Usually good teams come out and look impressive in the first 10 minutes until Barca gains control and then Barca just dominates the rest of the way, and that's basically how it worked out.

GREAT GAME

I've got a lot of respect for the performance Barca put in today and no doubt they had United way over their heads, but c'mon now - United dominates the first ten minutes and it's obvious to you Barca will gain control and dominate the rest of the way because it's happened in the past?!?

If you weren't crapping your pants with United's start to that match you must've been seeing something no one else was, United looked dangerous as ever pressuring the ball relentlessly and nearly causing Pique to pass one into his own net. Maybe after the next 10 minutes, you could see the tide turning and Barca imposing their will on the match (and from there perhaps sensing the trend you mentioned previously), but those first ten it looked like United had their gameplan sorted and Barca wouldn't get anything easy, especially in midfield.

However, Barca's skill level took over the game, incredible passing, Messi/Xavi were sublime and United couldn't sniff sustained possession the rest of the way.

The first 10 minutes in that game is not unlike the first 10 minutes in games against Arsenal and Real Madrid this year.
Teams always get either worn out, or Barca just starts cleaning up their passing.

I was telling the exact same thing to my two friends who I was watching it with, and one of them was denying it just like you are (and he was hoping Man U would win). It's not like Man U was dominating, they were just forcing Barca to scramble. Again, not something that hasn't happened before.
Man U's first goal was the only thing that worried me. A non-counterattack goal against the run of play? Dangerous stuff, it had me a little worried until the 2nd half started.

In the end, didn't the game go just like everyone thought it would (well, everyone who thought Barca would win)? A comfortable 2 goal win, which is what it was.

[Leslie Forman]

Barca were good, and I'm guessing Pep told them to cut out the bullsh*t out of respect for Ferguson and United. However, Fergie's tactics were absolutely horrendous, even worse than 2009. Mourinho and Hiddink have shown how you tame Barcelona. It's like he never even saw those games.

He may be a good man manager, but his tactical nous really is nonexistent.

[Teddy KGB]

Barca were good, and I'm guessing Pep told them to cut out the bullsh*t out of respect for Ferguson and United. However, Fergie's tactics were absolutely horrendous, even worse than 2009. Mourinho and Hiddink have shown how you tame Barcelona. It's like he never even saw those games.

He may be a good man manager, but his tactical nous really is nonexistent.

Yeah, we saw how effective Mourinho's strategy was this year...

and Hiddink didn't have a tactical edge over Barca, that Chelsea team was probably just a better team

[5DOM]

Mourinho's tactics worked pretty well in the last 4 games against Barca, but I don't think Ferguson's to blame for yesterday's loss. United had to play their own game, becaue they didn't have the personnel to copy what Chelsea and Inter did. You need physicality, work rate and disciplines to play that way. Their CB's did a good job, but Evra was out of position the whole game.

[Leslie Forman]

Yeah, we saw how effective Mourinho's strategy was this year...

The one game he didn't use his usual Barca strategy, he got creamed 5-0, then he went back to it and went 1-1-2, with the one loss being the game with the ridiculous red card.

So, yeah…I guess it was pretty effective.

Mourinho's tactics worked pretty well in the last 4 games against Barca, but I don't think Ferguson's to blame for yesterday's loss. United had to play their own game, becaue they didn't have the personnel to copy what Chelsea and Inter did. You need physicality, work rate and disciplines to play that way. Their CB's did a good job, but Evra was out of position the whole game.

I thought Vidic was pretty bad actually, the whole team in general gave far too much room and were pretty unorganized, though that should probably be put on Ferguson. Even Van der Sar didn't have a good game, that Messi goal was kinda soft.

Hernandez shouldn't have started, they should have had three in the midfield, and the whole team shoud have been much tighter and packed in the middle. Everyone knows that's where they want to go, except Ferguson apparently. Using two in the midfield, and those two being Carrick and Giggs was unbelievably naive. Hiddink or Mourinho would never have done that.

Would they have lost even if Ferguson got the tactics right? Probably. But they would have actually had a chance, whereas the way they played, they might as well have been Racing Santander or something.

[treiz]

I actually can't think of any team that will win this competition next year besides Barcelona again. Unless Mourinho pulls a rabbit out of the hat next year, this Barcelona team might the equivalent of the NBA's Heat.

[AdamTheGreek]

Barcelona's ball possession domination is phenomenal for a Final.

Man U got bad performances from Van Der Sar, Chicharito, and Park (And others were mediocre at best) that proved to be very costly.

[Foye]

Barcelona's ball possession domination is phenomenal for a Final.

Man U got bad performances from Van Der Sar, Chicharito, and Park (And others were mediocre at best) that proved to be very costly.

What's up with this Park anyway? Commentators always seem to say that he's a good player, though.

Everytime I see him playing he sucks. Last season against Munich he was like by far the worst player on the field.

[Teddy KGB]

It wasn't just Park though - pretty much the entire United midfield was terrible. Other than his offside assist, Giggs did pretty much nothing the whole night. I can't remember seeing Valencia except when he was making rash tackles on Messi and Iniesta. Carrick was also entirely anonymous. Nani at least created a decent chance when he came on, but he also pretty much assisted in our 3rd goal.

Park in particular looks bad because he's always praised for his workrate which is pretty much another way of saying he kinda sucks but he works really hard. I'm pretty sure talent wise he was the worst player on the field yesterday, and his effort edge is moot in a CL Final since everyone's giving it their all.

[5DOM]

Park's a good player because he's disciplined, works hard and scores big goals. He's usually a net positive and is someone you can depend on to not mess up. He was probably one of United's best players leading up to the Final (I'm not too sure though as I stopped watching them after they won the title). VDS and Park were far from United's worst players IMO. Evra was clearly the weak link and Valencia was awful himself. Giggs, Carrick, Park, Chicharito and even Rooney in the second half were just invisible.

[Teddy KGB]

I do think that Vidic/Ferdinand/Rooney can't really be faulted for their performances yesterday though. With Rooney it's because he managed to get United back into it from a point where it looked like Barca was just going to steamroller them. Vidic/Ferdinand were both good in terms of last ditch defending. Yes, they defended too deep but not only was that not their fault (that was SAF's decision not theirs), Carrick should also have provided them with a LOT more cover than he did. In the second half I'm really not sure what Carrick was doing because we were just getting any shot we wanted from the edge of the box.

EDIT: Oh, and everyone Man Utd used at fullback was terrible - especially Evra. Dani Alves and Villa were just doing whatever the hell the wanted against him and he kept playing way too close to Vidic to be of any real use.

[socwiz15]

Messi's performance was so inspiring I had to stop everything I was doing and edit this video. It's for all the naysayers that keep trying to discredit his status as the world's best player.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H9RQLzoC2E

It'll be interesting to see what happens with Pep beyond next season...I can see him leaving..success or not.

[Slava]

Gutted.. but Messi is phenomenal, nothing you can do to stop a player in that kind of form.

Evra disappointed the most though and if we had taken the lead in those first 10 mins things could have been more interesting, same situation as Rome but we showed some fight to get back from a goal down.

[treiz]

I thought Park, Hernandez and Valencia played well for their roles, they were asked to be disciplined and help the back and narrow up to compensate for Barca's attack, in terms of Chicharito, he was asked to close down the defense when they got the ball and he did that with some effect, he was mainly anonymous because Barcelona had 67% possession, how are you suppose to give him service when you can't even get the ball? On the other hand, I thought Evra played like crap, Dani Alves made him his *****.