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the thing is what u said can be true… but than its seems impossible logically.
Manchester Unite have best defensive record in this year.
But hey i agree, Barcelona are gest attacking side in this decade.
ps- barcelona are my second fav team, its only i saw united first saw united and epl is cool in IST to follow.. but i love both club.. and i can tell you both have winners in them.
and lastly Sir alex feguson, manager of man united is greatest manager in modern football.
but yeah odds are barca would win.. but like 3-1 .. bets wise
Although many talented players have been labelled the ‘new Maradona’ through the years none have lived up the hype, but the 1986 World Cup winner believes Messi is the real deal.
Argentina international Messi, 23, is widely-regarded as the best player in the world and is one of the main reasons why Barcelona go into Saturday’s Champions League final as favourites to beat Manchester United.
“I’ve heard many times over the years that there is a ‘new Maradona’,” El Diego told The Sun. “With Messi, though, I believe the player is equal to the hype. He is an incredible talent and someone who has the unique ability to do things with a ball you don’t expect.
“That’s what makes him special. All great players can play the game and do things which make everyone open their eyes with admiration. But only the truly special can make you gasp as you didn’t think what they did was even possible. That is what Messi does.
“Yes he’s capable of magic. But he is also a worker for the team.”
But despite his plaudits for Messi, Maradona feels Manchester United’s attack of Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez, whose performances this season have been followed in South America, can cause plenty of trouble for Barcelona’s defence.
“For me, the United players who are most important are the strikers,” said Maradona. “I watched Hernandez play in Mexico and you could see he was a real talent who could score goals at the best level.
“It’s no surprise that he has done so well so quickly. He is a natural striker. But his movement and the way he plays like a ghost is perhaps the most important thing. Defenders don’t know how to play against him because they don’t even know where he is.
“Because Hernandez is a handful, Rooney gets space and time to play which creates problems.”
Man Utd have proved that you need a game plan to beat bercalona and he will not make the same mistake when we played them 2 years ago..berca are beatable as we beat them on a semis on 2008 so we can hope
He made the exact same mistakes as last time in Rome. Plus this man utd are avg compared to the one 2 years ago. Ronaldo and Tevez being the obvious admissions from this team
3-0 or 4-0 is not possible although man utd are under-dogs but never under estimate man utd .
As fergie has proved it time and time again.
UTD has advantage because its played on enlish soil and we have played at wembley before but pitch is bit bouncy so it will not be clean sailing for berca
everthing is fine.
lately have been very busy with work.
taking a break in june end,going to eygpt with family for a week.
we will see pyramids ..
just need a break after hectic year…
Satyam it was nice of you to put the post here .
we as a man utd love you and always meant that satyamshot goes from strenth to strenth…
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Scot has been drilling into his men the need to make a fast switch from 4-4-2 to 3-4-3 in the event that they fall behind in the Champions League final at Wembley on Saturday night.
“I had never heard of Jim Lawlor [United's head scout], I didn’t know who he was,” he told The Guardian.
“I didn’t believe it. In Mexico, the agents put the badges of the clubs on their cards. I was thinking, ‘ok, another one of them, hey?’ I turned to my father and said ‘Don’t joke with me.’ But then I saw he was crying. That was the moment I realised it was really true. It was really Manchester United.”
Yet Hernandez has thrived at Old Trafford, surprising not just himself but also his manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who has admitted he didn’t expect the youngster to play such a key role in his first season.
“The idea was he would spend his first year getting to understand United, build up his body strength, get used to England,” Ferguson has said.
And ahead of the Champions League final, Hernandez says all of Mexico will be supporting him and reveals Mexico’s friendly clash with Ecuador has even been put back by two hours so it doesn’t clash with the Champions League final
But they toyed with MU lide they were school kids.. ball possesion 70 – 30, Goal attempts 19 – 3, corners 6 – 0 and pass completed more than 350… wat we are seeing is One of the Greatest team ever… Messi is one of the greatest ever. Man Untd 1st they could not get ball, when they got ball they were unable to handle it…
One can only dream abt such football and Passing… Life time exprnce.
Well said. yaar where was the tactics where was the fight. NOTHING from united. LOL hernandez hardly had a touch and all valencia did was barge into Messi every time.
I think they call it a DEMOLITION JOB
btw as great as fergie is he messed up with his tactics BIG TIME. As soon as I saw Carrick and Giggs in the centre i knew 100% that Barca are gonna boss the middle of the park. Exactly that happened.
Man Utd had 1 shot on target and that was the goal.
Great game of football so am happy.
I hope my Real Madrid side get there act together for next season and Mourinho and co gel together and we mount a challenge both in the league and champions league. However, Barca are the team to beat coz they simply are that damn good.
P.S did anyone watch fergies interview after with Gabriel Clarke? It was sooo funny when he had a go at the reporter lol
An article from the BBC Sport Website (and I agree 100% with what both Steve Mclaren and Mark Lawrenson said after the game.
Steve McClaren
Former England manager on BBC Radio 5 live
Barcelona’s performance was an education for any footballer or coach watching. That was how to play football.
Not just in possession, not just with the ball, not just in their movement – and they always seemed to have an extra man in all areas – but in the way that they closed down, pressed and hunted the ball.
Barcelona didn’t allow Manchester United to play any kind of football. That was probably the most disappointing thing about the night – in the end, Pep Guardiola’s side ran out very easy winners.
We thought things would change in the second half but they didn’t. It looked reminiscent of a basketball game, where everybody defends around the edge of the box.
Barcelona were just keeping the ball, waiting for the opportunity, being patient, and then delivering.
Lionel Messi, in particular, was sublime. He gave an unbelievable performance; we talk about big players performing on the big stage, and he has done it every time.
You can talk about tactical things like man-marking but Barcelona have so many players who are comfortable on the ball – Iniesta, Xavi, Villa, the list goes on.
In Europe you have to win that midfield battle, you can’t get outnumbered in that department.
Manchester United will carry on and learn; they got close but they were beaten by an intelligent side and they should learn from this game.
It’s an underestimated skill, is intelligence. Manchester United started well and posed Barcelona a question but the Spanish side solved it.
Messi, especially, solved it – he became the extra man in midfield. But they did it themselves, no-one was shouting from the sides.
Our coaches should look at that game and realise that it represents the future of football. Barcelona play total football, that’s their philosophy – not just in terms of what they do on the ball but also what they do off it.
Sir Alex will be so disappointed. As a manager, these things live with you.
The 2009 final in Rome would have lived with him and this was a great opportunity to extinguish those demons.
But now they’ve more or less doubled, so it was a bad night for him.
Mark Lawrenson
Former Liverpool defender on BBC Radio 5 live
Lionel Messi is a footballing genius. We can talk long and hard about getting close to him, but it’s very difficult to do.
The ball is always at his feet, he’s always got options. He can have the ball under and sort of pressure.
I think when you look at this in years to come, you’ll think how good Barcelona were – they were special, and it was a privilege and a pleasure to watch them play like that.
Barcelona win has also the same ring. A one sided affair.
It proves that one individual motivates and can make the opponent incapable of anything. And also proves who the real master is. A neat surgical affair.
Sorry for going off topic.
May be i am a minority here but still think Zizu was the player of last 2 decade. If possible Just watch 2006 WC QF between France-Brazil. france won by1-0. Though T Henery scored the goal in the pass of zidane. But boy the way he toyed with brazilian team, yoy have to see it to belive it. Brazil team was looking like a school team infront of Zizu. And don’t forget that brazil team had ronaldo, ronaldhinio and other great player. But yes i agree Messi is special talent. so don’t mess with him.
@ Dj – in me you have the biggest Zidane fan. I grew up watching him and trying to learn how to play football the way he did. WHAT A PLAYER. Complete in every sense as a player.
Zizou and Ronaldo (the real one are my 2 fav players. However, one can’t deny the brilliance of Messi and this formidable and gifted Barca team.
People can say tactically Man Utd got it wrong, but really even at their best United were really going to struggle against this Barcelona side. The side simply is one of the greatest teams ever to play football – whether club or international. It has an all time great in Messi – and he is, no matter if he does it for Argies or not, the guy is simply one of the best footballers ever. Forget him for a second and you still have 2 great passers in Iniesta and Xavi. As a unit, this team could beat anyway playing the way they did tonight. And I think in the second half after the third goal they just showed Man United some mercy! If they went for it, it could have been 5′s and 6′s today. Just too good.
Ferguson is a great manager and worked miracles in the past, but today I think Barcelona really made United look like a second rate team. Certain teams can do that. It’s no embarrassment or shame. United are still a great side, but because of their tradition which is to “attack” they would not tactically play a totally defensive game and go against tradition. This just plays into Barcelona’s hands. Certainly why Mourinho deserved all the credit last year for figuring out how to play them but with a team where he was not under pressure to play “beautiful” football with. At Madrid he is stuck big time. He cannot tactically go against the Madrid formula too much, they won’t stand for it.
Back to Barcelona…just so great to watch. 70% possession in a final is pretty much an ass whooping but hardly a shame because we are talking about a truly special side. If this team sticks around for a few years (addition of Fabragas to replace Xavi eventually) then it can really create some serious history. And if Messi can stay injury free, he’ll assume the status of greatest ever eventually. His attitude is so good and despite individual magic he is a great team player.
No shame, this was our best side, we stayed to our history and limitations.
We were stoke to barceolona
But we have been beaten by greatest side, and only thing now we have to think is how can we improve, and take on Barca in future.
__________________________________________________________
Barca never lose ball is because they hardly pass over 10 yards. – Johan Cruyff.
Ya naveed that is why i won’t forgive Matrazzi ever to provoke Zizu. If Zidane were therr in the full match then the winner of 2006 WC could be France.
One of the most one-sided final ever. I thought Manchester Utd would do better than in the last face-off but it was even worse. All the talks before the final were about lessons learned from that final and Fergie was promising us a masterpiece this time around.
In the end, Barcelona ran out easy winners. They completed twice the number of passes their opponents completed. 19 shots on goal compared to 3 for their opponents. Almost 70% of possession. And even for the goal scored by Man Utd, their player was offside.
If there is one way you can stop Barcelona, it is by pressing them high and make the transmission to Xavi and Iniesta difficult. Utd opted to defend deep and allowed their opponents to play and it meant that Utd were played off the park.
* Against a team of such quality and skill, there was no disgrace in defeat for Manchester United. And before we meander into the realms of ‘what if’, it goes without typing that United would most probably have been beaten no matter what they did. No team is unbeatable, but Barcelona make a decent impression to the contrary.
Yet it’s also fair to say that United did not help themselves. The foremost charge that must be levelled against their manager is that Sir Alex Ferguson’s selection invested too much confidence in his team and paid too little regard to their opponents. After all the muchly talk of United having two weeks on the training ground in which to fine-tune their preparations and design a strategy to stop Barcelona, the reality was that United were set up exactly as their opponents would have wished and had no answers prepared in advance. It was depressing, but definite and defining. Out-numbered in midfield, and without an anchor to negate Lionel Messi, United simply invited domination and were wide open to the exposure of their manager’s tactical folly. The result was a foregone conclusion.
* So how to explain such a botched selection?
Nobody other than the main man himself can know for certain, but Ferguson’s calculation seemed to be that United’s best would be better than Barcelona’s given that the team he selected was precisely the same starting eleven which demolished Schalke in Germany a month ago with a performance that he hailed giddily as “one of the best” of his reign.
Reviewed in cold light, the United boss seems to have been sucked into a miscalculation due to a mixture of arrogance, under-estimation of Barcelona and over-estimation of Schalke as a measuring gauge. A pause at this juncture is to wonder if United’s semi-final opponents were too much of an easy thing. But ultimately, and more than anything else, Ferguson’s misjudgement was a result of over-confidence in team that he believed was better than it actually is.
Of all the many things uttered in the build-up to the final, Ferguson’s answer to the question of how United intended to stop the ‘Xavi-Messi-Iniesta problem’, is perhaps the most revealing in hindsight:
“Everyone is searching for that because they are outstanding footballers. We have our share too. We have players who can cause any team a lot of bother and hopefully those attacking players will give Barcelona problems that everyone thinks they are going to give us.”
He read it wrong and, in the final reckoning, United’s determination to do it their way, and to prove their critics wrong, was their final undoing. Selecting a 4-4-2 bereft of a midfield enforcer or two wasn’t bold, it was reckless.
The difference between Barcelona and Manchester United was clear to see during the Champions League final, as Lionel Messi inspired Pep Guardiola’s side to a 3-1 victory.
But the collective effort of the Catalan team was crucial in constructing the win, demonstrated by the following statistics courtesy of Opta.
777 – Total number of passes that Barcelona made in the final, more than double Manchester United’s 357. Barca had 69% of overall ball possession.
148 – Passes that Spanish midfielder Xavi completed during the game, a high for the Champions League this season. He misplaced only seven, giving him a completion rate of 95%.
90 – Percentage of passes completed by the Barcelona team. United’s was 80%.
60 – Passes between Xavi and Andres Iniesta, the most common pass journey on the pitch. United’s most frequent combination was between defender Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic (16).
55 – Number of times Xavi and Iniesta passed to Messi.
18 – Passes made by Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes – two more than Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez.
16 – Times United fouled Barcelona’s players. Barcelona did likewise to their opponents on only five occasions.
15 – Dribbles by Messi, of which 10 were successful. Wayne Rooney was the next most frequent dribbler with six.
12 – Shots on target by Barcelona. Messi and Iniesta had three of these each.
11.95 – According to Uefa, distance in kilometres covered by Xavi, the highest in the Barcelona team. Ryan Giggs covered the greatest distance by a United player (11.16km).
1 – Number of shots that Manchester United had on target. This was Rooney’s 34th-minute goal.
good post there, Naveed…
U nearly scored a goal there on your own there!
By the way—all the best for “ready” Naveed..
Whats ur predictions for the Ready opening and gross (Just for the record)lol
I’m watching Ready o Thurs 8.20pm show. Theres 7 of us going and am hoping the film is good. I have high hopes/expectations. I will be very happy if film is good and Salman has performed well and the film is a good success.
I will review it but if I haven’t liked the film then I will skip the review
Interesting to see some ‘analyses’ from all ‘one-offs’, really!
- Fergie wanted a spectacle. Wrong, you don’t do that with Barca. 4-2-3-1 should have been the formation. We’d have stifled Barca, as we did in 2008 SF, not let them play their game.
- People do not realise, Man U’s a ‘transition’ team this past season vis-a-vis the ‘high’ point of Barca. Their PL triumph wasn’t a class act either.
- Barca are a wonderful team, but credit to Pep as well. Don’t think they’ll be as invincible as when he leaves. The play-acting of some of them is a bit of a blemish.
- The Scousers and the Citeh are in negative celebrations – as if Barca ‘won’ it for them!
All in all, Barca reminds me of the Ajax team of ’72-’74 whose videos I watched…
@offside- u know when i was in september last year or there around when rooney wanted to go etc.. we were pathetic, i said whatever we do if we finish in top 4 and QF of UCL, i would be happy.
We did better than that, ofcourse barca are from other planet, on fergie going for spectacle, dude i would have also preferred 4-2-3-1, isaid that prematch, but may be fergie had other ideas ? at hindsight its possible to criticise i guess, but u are correct.
on this season any other team in top 4 deserved to win EPL but we won, thats one of great acheivements of a squad with carrick and giggs in middle.
My point is Barca can be stopped – but not by ‘playing’ their brand of football. United play ‘dual’ football. One’s away from home, one’s at home. This game was an ‘away’ game so to speak. If this was played at Camp Nou, would we have played so open? Don’t think.
Yes, Keano’s football was requred. Playing Giggs and Carrick was going without any legs. After all, Barca isn’t Schalke. That was the undoing.
I’m more than satisfied with the PL this season.
Said that, when this CL final opportuity arose, we should have done much better. When I saw the team sheet, it was over for me before it started, though!
we were very poor on saturday,
all credit to berca and what a class act they were.
messi was unstoppable .different class
next year i think berca will do it again..
May 28, 2011 at 12:20 PM
I’m told Barca are far superior & have more class in all respects. Seen a bit of Messi. So I’m going with 4-0 for Barcelona.
May 28, 2011 at 12:25 PM
Hello ? whosoever told u knows nothing
LOL
dude this is manchester united
barcelona may be greatest team on planet, this is the second best side!
May 28, 2011 at 12:40 PM
With your name & display pic, you leave me with no choice but to take your word on it. So it’s going to be real close.
May 28, 2011 at 12:46 PM
actually why so serious:
the thing is what u said can be true… but than its seems impossible logically.
Manchester Unite have best defensive record in this year.
But hey i agree, Barcelona are gest attacking side in this decade.
ps- barcelona are my second fav team, its only i saw united first saw united and epl is cool in IST to follow.. but i love both club.. and i can tell you both have winners in them.
and lastly Sir alex feguson, manager of man united is greatest manager in modern football.
but yeah odds are barca would win.. but like 3-1 .. bets wise
May 28, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Maradona: Messi as good as me
ESPNsoccernet staff
Although many talented players have been labelled the ‘new Maradona’ through the years none have lived up the hype, but the 1986 World Cup winner believes Messi is the real deal.
Argentina international Messi, 23, is widely-regarded as the best player in the world and is one of the main reasons why Barcelona go into Saturday’s Champions League final as favourites to beat Manchester United.
“I’ve heard many times over the years that there is a ‘new Maradona’,” El Diego told The Sun. “With Messi, though, I believe the player is equal to the hype. He is an incredible talent and someone who has the unique ability to do things with a ball you don’t expect.
“That’s what makes him special. All great players can play the game and do things which make everyone open their eyes with admiration. But only the truly special can make you gasp as you didn’t think what they did was even possible. That is what Messi does.
“Yes he’s capable of magic. But he is also a worker for the team.”
But despite his plaudits for Messi, Maradona feels Manchester United’s attack of Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez, whose performances this season have been followed in South America, can cause plenty of trouble for Barcelona’s defence.
“For me, the United players who are most important are the strikers,” said Maradona. “I watched Hernandez play in Mexico and you could see he was a real talent who could score goals at the best level.
“It’s no surprise that he has done so well so quickly. He is a natural striker. But his movement and the way he plays like a ghost is perhaps the most important thing. Defenders don’t know how to play against him because they don’t even know where he is.
“Because Hernandez is a handful, Rooney gets space and time to play which creates problems.”
May 28, 2011 at 12:21 PM
It will be a classic…common you reds.
man utd will win today ,hopefully by 2-1 goals
barce are excelent team and so are man utd
what ever happens it will be aood solid game..
May 28, 2011 at 12:23 PM
Man Utd have proved that you need a game plan to beat bercalona and he will not make the same mistake when we played them 2 years ago..berca are beatable as we beat them on a semis on 2008 so we can hope
May 28, 2011 at 6:43 PM
He made the exact same mistakes as last time in Rome. Plus this man utd are avg compared to the one 2 years ago. Ronaldo and Tevez being the obvious admissions from this team
May 28, 2011 at 12:24 PM
3-0 Barca.You read it here first!
May 28, 2011 at 12:26 PM
3-2 Manchester United u read it here
first.
May 28, 2011 at 12:26 PM
bercalona are good attacking team but man utd can do both and some if we can take them on a counter-attack that will be pure solid.
the game will be won & lost in midfield.
Its a final and anything can happen.
May 28, 2011 at 12:27 PM
and we are winning it.
May 28, 2011 at 12:29 PM
3-0 or 4-0 is not possible although man utd are under-dogs but never under estimate man utd .
As fergie has proved it time and time again.
UTD has advantage because its played on enlish soil and we have played at wembley before but pitch is bit bouncy so it will not be clean sailing for berca
May 28, 2011 at 12:32 PM
Hey rooney,
I wish you were in england…Manchester is capitol of football.
manchester is buzzing as flags are on every reds fan
even in my car i have two flgs for man utd
May 28, 2011 at 12:38 PM
absolutely vijay!
i would love to be there.. but hey we are were we are.. long time hows ya?? hows life? i hope all is fine!
May 28, 2011 at 12:44 PM
everthing is fine.
lately have been very busy with work.
taking a break in june end,going to eygpt with family for a week.
we will see pyramids ..
just need a break after hectic year…
Satyam it was nice of you to put the post here .
we as a man utd love you and always meant that satyamshot goes from strenth to strenth…
May 28, 2011 at 12:51 PM
agree on SS part.
have a great vaca!!!
anyways m leaving catch ya tomo!
May 28, 2011 at 12:33 PM
M going for the game.
1. thnx satyam for the post, didnt thought u would place it so importance for ur and urself!! thnx
2. Barcelona are the greatest side of this generation.
3. Machester United is midfield is ordinary but terrific wingers.
4. Sir Alex Ferguson, people think of messi, xavi iniesta, but they forget this man…. greatest manager in moder day history.
Lastly i know odds are against United But lemme say it United are gonna fight for it.
this team is gonna split blood, die, fight, stand in the way.
Let Barcelona remember the night they played Manchester United.
May 28, 2011 at 12:36 PM
well said rooney,
we are under dog but hey its cup final and anything can happen
May 28, 2011 at 12:37 PM
satyam post this : http://cantheyscore.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/man-united-v-barcelona-line-up.jpg
this is formation and would explain to why serious and saket how i feel that midfield with rooney can be tricky proposition…
see if the last line of 4 and midfield line of 4… maintains minimum space, we can chalk messi out of game.
May 28, 2011 at 12:40 PM
The Daily Telegraph reports that the Scot has been drilling into his men the need to make a fast switch from 4-4-2 to 3-4-3 in the event that they fall behind in the Champions League final at Wembley on Saturday night.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/27052011/58/champions-league-papers-fergie-plan-revealed.html
May 28, 2011 at 12:42 PM
“I had never heard of Jim Lawlor [United's head scout], I didn’t know who he was,” he told The Guardian.
“I didn’t believe it. In Mexico, the agents put the badges of the clubs on their cards. I was thinking, ‘ok, another one of them, hey?’ I turned to my father and said ‘Don’t joke with me.’ But then I saw he was crying. That was the moment I realised it was really true. It was really Manchester United.”
Yet Hernandez has thrived at Old Trafford, surprising not just himself but also his manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who has admitted he didn’t expect the youngster to play such a key role in his first season.
“The idea was he would spend his first year getting to understand United, build up his body strength, get used to England,” Ferguson has said.
And ahead of the Champions League final, Hernandez says all of Mexico will be supporting him and reveals Mexico’s friendly clash with Ecuador has even been put back by two hours so it doesn’t clash with the Champions League final
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/champions-league/2011/05/28/2507333/manchester-united-striker-javier-hernandez-reveals-he-nearly
May 28, 2011 at 12:43 PM
@saket: it is this young boy watch out for him… his name is javier hernandez. old school finisher.
and watch him off the ball movement, i am not exagretting when i say he is among best of the ball in world football.
May 28, 2011 at 12:46 PM
yes saket. watch for this boy as we groomed ronaldo ,hernandez will be a star ,near enough of messi who is in different planet
May 28, 2011 at 12:47 PM
btw vijay catch u after game.. going to friends place.. we are arranging for a party.
May 28, 2011 at 12:50 PM
enjoy it rooney,I think we will do it today
man utd 2-1 berca
May 28, 2011 at 1:03 PM
http://forevermanutd.com/
May 28, 2011 at 1:17 PM
I am not too invested in this either way but I am backing Messi. The Argentina connection does it for me! Have historically backed them in every WC.
May 28, 2011 at 5:13 PM
same here i have supported argentina in world cups.
man united overall.
barcelona in la liga.
__________________________________________________________
But satyam indeed we are witnessing this games great player and great team and above all their style tika-tika football.
it is said why barca are rarely caught on possession according to person who created this barcelona structure that:
they rarely pass more than 10 yards.
May 28, 2011 at 1:46 PM
Messi is different class…I hope he has an off day today so we have a chance,you are right Messi is different class
May 28, 2011 at 5:01 PM
Respect Barcelona. Guard of Honor. I have always supported them but never over United. Can Never do that.
In time to come i would say to people i was born in same age/era as Messi, Xavi, Iniesta… Barcelona.
Witnessing history!!
May 28, 2011 at 5:13 PM
3 greatest combo. period.
But they toyed with MU lide they were school kids.. ball possesion 70 – 30, Goal attempts 19 – 3, corners 6 – 0 and pass completed more than 350… wat we are seeing is One of the Greatest team ever… Messi is one of the greatest ever. Man Untd 1st they could not get ball, when they got ball they were unable to handle it…
One can only dream abt such football and Passing… Life time exprnce.
May 28, 2011 at 6:46 PM
Well said. yaar where was the tactics where was the fight. NOTHING from united. LOL hernandez hardly had a touch and all valencia did was barge into Messi every time.
I think they call it a DEMOLITION JOB
btw as great as fergie is he messed up with his tactics BIG TIME. As soon as I saw Carrick and Giggs in the centre i knew 100% that Barca are gonna boss the middle of the park. Exactly that happened.
Man Utd had 1 shot on target and that was the goal.
Great game of football so am happy.
I hope my Real Madrid side get there act together for next season and Mourinho and co gel together and we mount a challenge both in the league and champions league. However, Barca are the team to beat coz they simply are that damn good.
P.S did anyone watch fergies interview after with Gabriel Clarke? It was sooo funny when he had a go at the reporter lol
May 29, 2011 at 12:49 AM
@NAVEED- we did our best, about tactics.. well this are the players we have.
we dont have anybody else, neither bankrolled as real madrid
we play with our limitations.
Rio ferdinand and Vidic fought if u were asking for fight and add van der sar.
May 28, 2011 at 8:36 PM
An article from the BBC Sport Website (and I agree 100% with what both Steve Mclaren and Mark Lawrenson said after the game.
Steve McClaren
Former England manager on BBC Radio 5 live
Barcelona’s performance was an education for any footballer or coach watching. That was how to play football.
Not just in possession, not just with the ball, not just in their movement – and they always seemed to have an extra man in all areas – but in the way that they closed down, pressed and hunted the ball.
Barcelona didn’t allow Manchester United to play any kind of football. That was probably the most disappointing thing about the night – in the end, Pep Guardiola’s side ran out very easy winners.
We thought things would change in the second half but they didn’t. It looked reminiscent of a basketball game, where everybody defends around the edge of the box.
Barcelona were just keeping the ball, waiting for the opportunity, being patient, and then delivering.
Lionel Messi, in particular, was sublime. He gave an unbelievable performance; we talk about big players performing on the big stage, and he has done it every time.
You can talk about tactical things like man-marking but Barcelona have so many players who are comfortable on the ball – Iniesta, Xavi, Villa, the list goes on.
In Europe you have to win that midfield battle, you can’t get outnumbered in that department.
Manchester United will carry on and learn; they got close but they were beaten by an intelligent side and they should learn from this game.
It’s an underestimated skill, is intelligence. Manchester United started well and posed Barcelona a question but the Spanish side solved it.
Messi, especially, solved it – he became the extra man in midfield. But they did it themselves, no-one was shouting from the sides.
Our coaches should look at that game and realise that it represents the future of football. Barcelona play total football, that’s their philosophy – not just in terms of what they do on the ball but also what they do off it.
Sir Alex will be so disappointed. As a manager, these things live with you.
The 2009 final in Rome would have lived with him and this was a great opportunity to extinguish those demons.
But now they’ve more or less doubled, so it was a bad night for him.
Mark Lawrenson
Former Liverpool defender on BBC Radio 5 live
Lionel Messi is a footballing genius. We can talk long and hard about getting close to him, but it’s very difficult to do.
The ball is always at his feet, he’s always got options. He can have the ball under and sort of pressure.
I think when you look at this in years to come, you’ll think how good Barcelona were – they were special, and it was a privilege and a pleasure to watch them play like that.
May 28, 2011 at 8:36 PM
sorry forgot to post link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/9499785.stm
May 28, 2011 at 9:07 PM
Barcelona win has also the same ring. A one sided affair.
It proves that one individual motivates and can make the opponent incapable of anything. And also proves who the real master is. A neat surgical affair.
May 28, 2011 at 9:12 PM
Sorry for going off topic.
May be i am a minority here but still think Zizu was the player of last 2 decade. If possible Just watch 2006 WC QF between France-Brazil. france won by1-0. Though T Henery scored the goal in the pass of zidane. But boy the way he toyed with brazilian team, yoy have to see it to belive it. Brazil team was looking like a school team infront of Zizu. And don’t forget that brazil team had ronaldo, ronaldhinio and other great player. But yes i agree Messi is special talent. so don’t mess with him.
May 28, 2011 at 9:51 PM
@ Dj – in me you have the biggest Zidane fan. I grew up watching him and trying to learn how to play football the way he did. WHAT A PLAYER. Complete in every sense as a player.
Zizou and Ronaldo (the real one
are my 2 fav players. However, one can’t deny the brilliance of Messi and this formidable and gifted Barca team.
May 28, 2011 at 9:58 PM
@ Dj – plz watch this video of Zizou. He plays around with the Portugal team (Euro 2000)
Look at the first touch, acceleration in speed, vision, his defensive skills and the way he uses both feet etc etc
May 28, 2011 at 10:03 PM
People can say tactically Man Utd got it wrong, but really even at their best United were really going to struggle against this Barcelona side. The side simply is one of the greatest teams ever to play football – whether club or international. It has an all time great in Messi – and he is, no matter if he does it for Argies or not, the guy is simply one of the best footballers ever. Forget him for a second and you still have 2 great passers in Iniesta and Xavi. As a unit, this team could beat anyway playing the way they did tonight. And I think in the second half after the third goal they just showed Man United some mercy! If they went for it, it could have been 5′s and 6′s today. Just too good.
Ferguson is a great manager and worked miracles in the past, but today I think Barcelona really made United look like a second rate team. Certain teams can do that. It’s no embarrassment or shame. United are still a great side, but because of their tradition which is to “attack” they would not tactically play a totally defensive game and go against tradition. This just plays into Barcelona’s hands. Certainly why Mourinho deserved all the credit last year for figuring out how to play them but with a team where he was not under pressure to play “beautiful” football with. At Madrid he is stuck big time. He cannot tactically go against the Madrid formula too much, they won’t stand for it.
Back to Barcelona…just so great to watch. 70% possession in a final is pretty much an ass whooping but hardly a shame because we are talking about a truly special side. If this team sticks around for a few years (addition of Fabragas to replace Xavi eventually) then it can really create some serious history. And if Messi can stay injury free, he’ll assume the status of greatest ever eventually. His attitude is so good and despite individual magic he is a great team player.
May 29, 2011 at 12:53 AM
agreed Jay.
No shame, this was our best side, we stayed to our history and limitations.
We were stoke to barceolona
But we have been beaten by greatest side, and only thing now we have to think is how can we improve, and take on Barca in future.
__________________________________________________________
Barca never lose ball is because they hardly pass over 10 yards. – Johan Cruyff.
May 29, 2011 at 2:55 AM
http://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/article/998894–kelly-barcelona-possibly-the-best-club-ever
May 28, 2011 at 10:26 PM
Ya naveed that is why i won’t forgive Matrazzi ever to provoke Zizu. If Zidane were therr in the full match then the winner of 2006 WC could be France.
May 29, 2011 at 4:48 AM
One of the most one-sided final ever. I thought Manchester Utd would do better than in the last face-off but it was even worse. All the talks before the final were about lessons learned from that final and Fergie was promising us a masterpiece this time around.
In the end, Barcelona ran out easy winners. They completed twice the number of passes their opponents completed. 19 shots on goal compared to 3 for their opponents. Almost 70% of possession. And even for the goal scored by Man Utd, their player was offside.
If there is one way you can stop Barcelona, it is by pressing them high and make the transmission to Xavi and Iniesta difficult. Utd opted to defend deep and allowed their opponents to play and it meant that Utd were played off the park.
May 29, 2011 at 9:35 AM
FOOTBALL365 FAMOUS 16 CONCLUSIONS:
* Against a team of such quality and skill, there was no disgrace in defeat for Manchester United. And before we meander into the realms of ‘what if’, it goes without typing that United would most probably have been beaten no matter what they did. No team is unbeatable, but Barcelona make a decent impression to the contrary.
Yet it’s also fair to say that United did not help themselves. The foremost charge that must be levelled against their manager is that Sir Alex Ferguson’s selection invested too much confidence in his team and paid too little regard to their opponents. After all the muchly talk of United having two weeks on the training ground in which to fine-tune their preparations and design a strategy to stop Barcelona, the reality was that United were set up exactly as their opponents would have wished and had no answers prepared in advance. It was depressing, but definite and defining. Out-numbered in midfield, and without an anchor to negate Lionel Messi, United simply invited domination and were wide open to the exposure of their manager’s tactical folly. The result was a foregone conclusion.
* So how to explain such a botched selection?
Nobody other than the main man himself can know for certain, but Ferguson’s calculation seemed to be that United’s best would be better than Barcelona’s given that the team he selected was precisely the same starting eleven which demolished Schalke in Germany a month ago with a performance that he hailed giddily as “one of the best” of his reign.
Reviewed in cold light, the United boss seems to have been sucked into a miscalculation due to a mixture of arrogance, under-estimation of Barcelona and over-estimation of Schalke as a measuring gauge. A pause at this juncture is to wonder if United’s semi-final opponents were too much of an easy thing. But ultimately, and more than anything else, Ferguson’s misjudgement was a result of over-confidence in team that he believed was better than it actually is.
Of all the many things uttered in the build-up to the final, Ferguson’s answer to the question of how United intended to stop the ‘Xavi-Messi-Iniesta problem’, is perhaps the most revealing in hindsight:
“Everyone is searching for that because they are outstanding footballers. We have our share too. We have players who can cause any team a lot of bother and hopefully those attacking players will give Barcelona problems that everyone thinks they are going to give us.”
He read it wrong and, in the final reckoning, United’s determination to do it their way, and to prove their critics wrong, was their final undoing. Selecting a 4-4-2 bereft of a midfield enforcer or two wasn’t bold, it was reckless.
READ MORE
http://football365.com/story/0,17033,8742_6958070,00.html
May 29, 2011 at 5:50 PM
The headlines are back—Is Messi better than Maradona??
May 29, 2011 at 9:18 PM
The difference between Barcelona and Manchester United was clear to see during the Champions League final, as Lionel Messi inspired Pep Guardiola’s side to a 3-1 victory.
But the collective effort of the Catalan team was crucial in constructing the win, demonstrated by the following statistics courtesy of Opta.
777 – Total number of passes that Barcelona made in the final, more than double Manchester United’s 357. Barca had 69% of overall ball possession.
148 – Passes that Spanish midfielder Xavi completed during the game, a high for the Champions League this season. He misplaced only seven, giving him a completion rate of 95%.
90 – Percentage of passes completed by the Barcelona team. United’s was 80%.
60 – Passes between Xavi and Andres Iniesta, the most common pass journey on the pitch. United’s most frequent combination was between defender Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic (16).
55 – Number of times Xavi and Iniesta passed to Messi.
18 – Passes made by Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes – two more than Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez.
16 – Times United fouled Barcelona’s players. Barcelona did likewise to their opponents on only five occasions.
15 – Dribbles by Messi, of which 10 were successful. Wayne Rooney was the next most frequent dribbler with six.
12 – Shots on target by Barcelona. Messi and Iniesta had three of these each.
11.95 – According to Uefa, distance in kilometres covered by Xavi, the highest in the Barcelona team. Ryan Giggs covered the greatest distance by a United player (11.16km).
1 – Number of shots that Manchester United had on target. This was Rooney’s 34th-minute goal.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13588273.stm
May 30, 2011 at 1:36 AM
LOL naveed!
May 30, 2011 at 9:59 AM
good post there, Naveed…
U nearly scored a goal there on your own there!
By the way—all the best for “ready” Naveed..
Whats ur predictions for the Ready opening and gross (Just for the record)lol
May 30, 2011 at 9:39 PM
LOL alex
I’m watching Ready o Thurs 8.20pm show. Theres 7 of us going and am hoping the film is good. I have high hopes/expectations. I will be very happy if film is good and Salman has performed well and the film is a good success.
I will review it but if I haven’t liked the film then I will skip the review
Dhinka Chika e e e e
May 30, 2011 at 11:19 PM
Give us an honest review after watching.
May 30, 2011 at 9:23 AM
Interesting to see some ‘analyses’ from all ‘one-offs’, really!
- Fergie wanted a spectacle. Wrong, you don’t do that with Barca. 4-2-3-1 should have been the formation. We’d have stifled Barca, as we did in 2008 SF, not let them play their game.
- People do not realise, Man U’s a ‘transition’ team this past season vis-a-vis the ‘high’ point of Barca. Their PL triumph wasn’t a class act either.
- Barca are a wonderful team, but credit to Pep as well. Don’t think they’ll be as invincible as when he leaves. The play-acting of some of them is a bit of a blemish.
- The Scousers and the Citeh are in negative celebrations – as if Barca ‘won’ it for them!
All in all, Barca reminds me of the Ajax team of ’72-’74 whose videos I watched…
On to the next season! Glory Glory Man United…
May 30, 2011 at 11:49 PM
@offside- u know when i was in september last year or there around when rooney wanted to go etc.. we were pathetic, i said whatever we do if we finish in top 4 and QF of UCL, i would be happy.
We did better than that, ofcourse barca are from other planet, on fergie going for spectacle, dude i would have also preferred 4-2-3-1, isaid that prematch, but may be fergie had other ideas ? at hindsight its possible to criticise i guess, but u are correct.
on this season any other team in top 4 deserved to win EPL but we won, thats one of great acheivements of a squad with carrick and giggs in middle.
I missed Roy keane
May 31, 2011 at 6:13 AM
My point is Barca can be stopped – but not by ‘playing’ their brand of football. United play ‘dual’ football. One’s away from home, one’s at home. This game was an ‘away’ game so to speak. If this was played at Camp Nou, would we have played so open? Don’t think.
Yes, Keano’s football was requred. Playing Giggs and Carrick was going without any legs. After all, Barca isn’t Schalke. That was the undoing.
I’m more than satisfied with the PL this season.
Said that, when this CL final opportuity arose, we should have done much better. When I saw the team sheet, it was over for me before it started, though!
Anyway, hope we buy good in summer.
May 30, 2011 at 3:21 PM
hail messi
let the bracelona have his glory but the united will be back
( much likee csk the man united of ipl)
May 31, 2011 at 11:55 AM
we were very poor on saturday,
all credit to berca and what a class act they were.
messi was unstoppable .different class
next year i think berca will do it again..
June 1, 2011 at 10:52 AM
Soccer on the subcontinent: India’s blossoming passion for football