Champions League - Barcelona win the final

Eurosport - Thu, 28 May 10:40:00 2009

Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi scored the goals as Barcelona beat Manchester United 2-0 in the Champions League final in Rome.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Champions League Barcelona Trophy - 0

Cameroon international Eto'o struck after ten minutes and Messi added the second with a superb header 20 minutes from time.

United can have no complaints as they failed to find their usual fluency and defended hesitantly with many of their key performers well below-par.

Barcelona lifted the trophy for the third time in their history and matched United's own treble in 1999 as Pep Guardiola's men added Europe's premier competition to domestic League and Cup success.

The Catalan club scored with their first real attack after United started in electric fashion.

Andres Iniesta got past Anderson too easily and found Eto'o who cut inside Nemanja Vidic and toe poked the ball under Edwin van der Sar from close range.

Until then it had been all United.

After just two minutes Cristiano Ronaldo's 30-yard effort bounced viciously in front of Victor Valdes who spilled the effort and it required a superb block by former United defender Gerard Pique to deny Park Ji-sung a tap-in.

The Portuguese then volleyed just wide from 16 yards before United fell behind with Serb Vidic, named Barclays player of the year earlier in the day, culpable with a lackluster challenge.

Ronaldo looked to get his side back on terms and his run through on goal was ended by a Pique block for which he received a yellow card.

But Barca then began to boss the game and Messi came to the fore with a scorching drive just missing the top corner, with Van der Sar beaten, before Xavi curled a free-kick just over the top.

It was the 11th effort on goal in a frenetic opening half-hour.

United had an escape on the brink of half-time when Van der Sar spilled a low cross from Messi but there was no-one at the near post to capitalise and Sir Alex Ferguson gambled at the interval by replacing the ineffective Anderson with Carlos Tevez.

But Barca relished the extra space in midfield and twice came close to extending their advantage within the space of four minutes.

Iniesta sent Thierry Henry away down the left, in a big hole vacated by John O'Shea, and he turned Rio Ferdinand inside out before seeing his shot saved by the legs of Van der Sar.

Then a surging run from man-of-the-match Iniesta was ended a yard outside the penalty area by Vidic and Xavi curled the resulting free-kick around the wall and against the post.

United did regroup however and Ronaldo swung in a cross from the right which Yaya Toure completely missed only for the ball to bounce off the hard pitch and over the head of the unmarked Park six yards out.

Park was then replaced by Dimitar Berbatov as Ferguson threw caution to the wind with a 4-2-4 formation only to concede a second.

Patrice Evra hooked his clearance aimlessly to Xavi who picked out an unmarked Messi and the little Argentine climbed high to guide the ball past Van der Sar and into the far corner for his first goal against an English club.

United should have pulled a goal back almost immediately as the ball fell to Ronaldo at the far post only for Valdes to smother his shot.

Paul Scholes replaced Giggs and he was booked along with Ronaldo as United chased the game with the Premier League champions almost conceding a third when Carles Puyol's thumping header was saved by Van der Sar before the advancing Dutchman saved a shot from the Barca captain after the best move of the match.

Berbatov headed over from close range late on but there was no way back for United who failed in their bid to become the first team since Milan in 1990 to retain the European crown.

Victory for Barca also ended United's record 25-match unbeaten run in the competition and inflicted a first defeat in a European final on the Old Trafford club.

Lee Walker / Eurosport

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  1. First of all what I'm about to say goes to the­ ones­ who hate Barcelona, La Liga, and have been­ talking­ trashhhh throughout the season about them.­ First of all­ Premiershitt is not better than La Liga.­ Now Spain has­ 12 CL trophies, 1 more than England and­ Italy. Second,­ Barca leads the goals scored in CL,­ with 851 goals, and­ second come madrid with 850 goals.­ Third, Barca is the­ only team in Europe to compeete­ every year in a­ European Competition.This proves that­ La Liga is­ Better. Also, you english fans complained­ about­ Barca's defense not being good. Barca were­ missing­ Alves, Abidal, Marques, and Milito, 4 of their­ key­ players, and still Man U could not score a single­ goal­ against Barca. You english fans complained about­ Messi­ not being a great player and not being a­ complete­ player, and saying that ronaldo is better,­ and Messi­ can't score against english teams, and­ can't­ score with his head. Here are the facts,­ Messi scored­ with his had against Man U, an english­ team, and he has­ scored with his head before too.­ Another fact, ronaldo­ himself has not scored a goal­ against an Spanish team.­ You english fans were also­ talking trashhh about­ english teams having better­ defender, and ViBITCH and­ Rio being the best­ defenders. Well let me ask you, did­ you see how they­ got outplayed, did you see how­ Eto'o outplayed­ ViBITCH and scored the goal? Did­ you see Henry and­ Messi outplaying Rio, ViBITCH and the­ whole man u­ defense? I'm sure you saw that. And for­ you­ english people that say that Barca has not played­ any­ hard teams, well let me tell you, Barca beat­ Seville­ home and away, beat Valencia, home and away,­ beat­ Villareal, the same team that man u could not­ beat,­ Barca beat them home and away, they beat Atletico­­ Madrid 3 times, Barca also knocked out chelsea out of­­ CL, by dominating the first leg, and came back in the­­ second leg with 1 men down and scored against 10 men­­ anti football team called chelsea, and Finally­

    From Poopala, on Tue 28 Jul 7:15PM

  2. The truth is dat barca is the best cuz anytn dat the­ team does has been practiced by dem and ordained by­ God!_Oh Barca is more than a club(el barca masque un­ clube) up blaugrana....ARIZONA_NIGERIA.

    From arizona, on Wed 22 Jul 7:45AM

  3. The truth is dat barca is the best cuz anytn dat the­ team does has been practiced by dem and ordained by­ God!_Oh Barca is more than a club(el barca masque un­ clube) up blaugrana....ARIZONA_NIGERIA.

    From arizona, on Wed 22 Jul 7:45AM

  4. man u were awful, had chelsea got through, which they­ clerly should have, theyd have thrashed man u at least­ 5-0

    From chris.shaw47, on Mon 29 Jun 5:49PM

  5. To all these Manchester Utd fans, your team were­ pathetically outfoxed and beaten fair and square.

    You­ thought that Barcelona despite when went behind at­ Chelsea, they will sit back and allow you to dominate,­ because you just had one chance and from then on­ Barcelona just huff and puff and blew you away.

    You­ should take a leaf from Liverpool and Nottingham Forest­ how they won the European Cups back to back in the­ seventies and the eighties.

    Barcelona weren't­ scared of United and just completely spank them all­ over the place.

    From peasah2005, on Thu 4 Jun 2:35PM

  6. GOD BLESS THE MAMA THAT GAVE BIRTH TO MR SAMUEL ETOO­ FILS....he is one of the most lethal finishers of all­ times....

    From franklin b concience, on Mon 1 Jun 1:34PM

  7. Now both teams (Barca,MU), got what they deserve!!!­ Visca el Barca!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Sat 30 May 3:27PM

  8. Visca el Barca!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Sat 30 May 3:24PM

  9. Blaugrana al vent! Un crit valent! Barca!!! Barca!!!­ Barca!!!

    From damnsoldja, on Sat 30 May 3:22PM

  10. But defensively the spanish league is @#$%, and the­ prem is amazing defensively, just look at what happened­ to Madrid, they had 5 put past them in 180 mins and­ they didn't even score! I think Barca are very­ attacking but the rest of the teams in your league are­ just not up to the standard of the rest of the­ premiership. Teams like Everton and tottenham would­ easily cut it in your top 4 season in season out.

    From sue.theodossiadis, on Sat 30 May 3:14PM

  11. alextheodossiadis you are talking utter S**t! 3 teams­ have gone after United this season and shown that when­ attacked they aren't half as good as they think­ themselves to be! Fulham, Liverpool and Barcelona have­ all shown that if they are attcaked Man U aren't­ that good and attacking is what the Spanish League is­ all about!!!

    From dezzyfiesta, on Sat 30 May 2:18AM

  12. barcelonafan85, if you read my point e few posts­ earlier, you wil see that not all Man U fans are­ arrogant and stupid. And, just because you have the­ best team in the world it doesn't mean you have the­ best league in the world, the rest of your league would­ struggle to compete with the prem.

    From alextheodossiadis, on Fri 29 May 5:23PM

  13. As Mr. White, one of those rare English journalists who­ are willing to write the truth, pointed out ‘Barcelona­ hammered Manchester United, though the egotistical­ Manchester United fans can't gulp down the fact­ that their team was really hammered. I wish Barcelona­ had converted the other 4/5 other chances they had­ against Man U and the score should have read 5-0 or­ 6-0, then only the foolish and arrogant Man U faithful­ would have gone into hiding and kept their mouth shut.­ It requires intelligence to understand that Barcelona­ outplayed Man U and 2-0 doesn't mean Man U played­ very well. Barcelona are the best, the whole world knew­ it, but we had to prove to a handful of impertinent­ Englishmen through this match that Barcelona and La­ Liga are the best. Hail the greatest team of earth,­ with the greatest players in the World. Viva La Liga,­ Viva Barcelona. The whole world loves you.

    From barcelonafan85, on Fri 29 May 3:58PM

  14. As Mr. White, one of those rare English journalists who­ are willing to write the truth, pointed out ‘Barcelona­ hammered Manchester United, though the egotistical­ Manchester United fans can't gulp down the fact­ that their team was really hammered. I wish Barcelona­ had converted the other 4/5 other chances they had­ against Man U and the score should have read 5-0 or­ 6-0, then only the foolish and arrogant Man U faithful­ would have gone into hiding and kept their mouth shut.­ It requires intelligence to understand that Barcelona­ outplayed Man U and 2-0 doesn't mean Man U played­ very well. Barcelona are the best, the whole world knew­ it, but we had to prove to a handful of impertinent­ Englishmen through this match that Barcelona and La­ Liga are the best. Hail the greatest team of earth,­ with the greatest players in the World. Viva La Liga,­ Viva Barcelona. The whole world loves you.

    From barcelonafan85, on Fri 29 May 3:58PM

  15. M.U looser!!

    From Amir Imran, on Fri 29 May 11:54AM

  16. Jordzibob, I support Utd and I think you make some very­ good points especially about Berbatov. But, let me­ explain why ferguson played 4-3-3, when we went to the­ emirates we destroyed arsenal playing that formation­ and we have used it to good effect in europe this­ season. Ferguson knew hed have to double up on messi­ and henry so he deployed Rooney and Park, two attacking­ players with extremely high work rate and good­ defensively, to track back and keep tabs on them. He­ put ronaldo up front in the hope puyol was playing with­ pique at centre back so he could use his pace and arial­ ability against them. But both of these failed.­ Guardiola kept switching the front 3 around, giving our­ defence a nightmare and confusing Rooney and Park. And­ he put Yaya Toure at centre back giving Ronaldo no­ chance in the air. Rooney and Park were back in defence­ all the time and Carrick, Anderson and Giggs were being­ streamrollered by Iniesta and Xavi, leaving Ronaldo­ isolated and frustrated up front. If we had sat back­ and hit on the counter I do think we could have won and­ I also think that if we had Hargreaves playing our­ midfield would have had a much easier ride. That early­ goal decided the game and we were never going to get­ back into it from there. We were only going to get past­ Barca down the wings as their midfield is too strong­ but Rooney and Park never put and balls into the box­ which meant we lost all our attacking threat, it turned­ into a case of when Barca would score. And we needed to­ keep the ball. Barca aren't that good defensively­ (but they were on Wednesday) so if we had kept­ possesion and passed it around and built pressure we­ might have had a chance, but we looked for the long­ ball to often meaning Barca could control the game from­ midfield. Well played Barca but Utd will be back next­ year.

    From alextheodossiadis, on Fri 29 May 11:43AM

  17. we won champions league...but...more important thing is­ that henry finally won the champions league...

    From Dúde, on Fri 29 May 10:52AM

  18. mission accomplished.............

    From Zul Khairi Zahari, on Fri 29 May 6:01AM

  19. Congrate to Barce n thanks to cheated reffs who­ disallowed the Chelsea glory.

    From Noorj, on Fri 29 May 4:45AM

  20. CONGRATS BARCELONA ON AN OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE!!­ Manchester Utd. had the chance to come back, but they­ didn't seem to have the will to put up a fight­ after Barca scored the first goal. Before the goal, Man­ U was attacking Barcelona like crazy and must of had­ three shots that were close to goals. You didn't­ see much of that again after Eto'o scored the first­ goal. And how about that header from Messi!! Amazing!!

    From PW, on Fri 29 May 12:31AM
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