It was a riveting finish to this year football season and FC Barcelona was hands-down Numero Uno. The Final of Champions League between ManU and Barcelona at Rome was totally a one-side affair with Catalans came out triumph with all guns blazing. The match was without doubt between two best football team this season. ManU won the premier league confortably and Barcelona were table topper in La Liga.So it was supposed to be a clash of Titans in Olympique stadium Rome.
In the first few minutes of the match, ManU started showing their class with as many as three to four goal attempts at Barca post in first five minutes. Victor Valdes did well to cut Ronaldo’s 30-meter free kick. But once Barca started making early inroads towards Manu Goal they came in their own groove. It was Cameroonean Eto who started the scoring in Barca’s very first attack. He dribles the ball past Vidic and put the ball beyond Van Der Saar for a thumping 9th minute goal. After this there was no stopping for Barcelona and they started playing the kind of football they are loved all round the world. They started having 60-70% pocession and started controlling the game. The place where Barcelona was very good and ManU felt lost was in midfield. Xavi and Ineista show there class everybit while Carrick, Giggs and Anderson looked out of touch. No wonder Xavi won the UEFA man of the match award for this match. On the other hand ManU forwards including Ronaldo not gettng enough passes from Midfield to take the game forward. By the end of first half Barca was quite comfortably placed.
The second half also shares the same story. Inspite of bringing Tevez and Scholes ManU could not dominate the game. At around 20 minutes more to go, Xavi gave an elegant cross pass Ferdinand and Messi headed the ball pass Van Der Saar second time in the night thereby ending any hope of ManU revival in the match. It was probably the most one sided Champions League Final to have taken place in last 5-6 years. Barca for the kind of football they play totally deserved this victory. I hope Messi wins the world footballer of the year award this time because of the consistent performance his season in all leagues. As for Barca, many people have started comparing this team with Johan Cryuff’s Dream Team which ruled Europe between 1991-1994.No matter what, I am looking forward to witnessing Barca next season with new signings but with same style (some say art) of football and who know if they reach Final next year we will see them play in Santiago Bernbeau, their arch-rival Real Madrid’s local stadium which will be a contest to watch out for.
Go Barca!!!
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