Official UEFA Champions League Final Barca vs Man U Thread

[Kaveh Ahangar]

I feel sorry for United.
Today, they were brutally sodomised in front of a live audience of 150+ million.

[HuSsAiN]

They slaughtered us in midfield. Getting out of the first half at 1-1 was a blessing in disguise, and should have ended up with Ferguson realizing that his tactics were wrong and his approach was wrong and should have encouraged him to stay the course. Instead, he kept it the same, the pattern of the match remained the same, and we were well and truly spanked.

What bothers me isn't that we lost to a great football side. What bothers me is that we made it so flippen easy for them in the end. All that talk from Sir Bobby Charlton before the match about "we may well lose, but they will really have to earn their victory" was utter crap - they were gifted it

[Masoud_A]

I went to a pub with my Pamplonian friends to watch the match, I had a bet with one of them which I obviously lost

[HuSsAiN]

It was just so blatant, after the first 10 minutes, that Xavi, Iniesta, Biscuit, and Messi were bossing it. Why not change it? Rather, what we did was keep it the same, let them boss it, and just allow them to win the match. Bonkers.

What bothers me is this:

We failed to learn anything from 2009. All this talk during the past week that we've learned our lessons and we are a more mature side and we are better prepared and the preparation has been exemplary - really?

You have to concede that Barcelona will get the fair share of possession - that's just how good a side they are. However, in Rome, we were poorly found out in midfield because we didn't press. Did that change? Once - we pressed up on a throw in and as a result, won possession back, scored. Other than that, sit back.

In Rome, Messi the "striker" played so much in between the lines and we had no answer for him. Did that change? No - I lost track of the number of times Messi was darting through the middle of the pitch with the ball, in those spaces between the midfield and center backs.

In Rome, we were shit in possession - we relied on far too many long, direct balls, and didn't play the ball short and build any attacks. Did that change? No. It was all direct - long goal kicks from van der Sar that went straight out of bounds, or over the top balls which were bread and butter for their defense.

In Rome, their midfielders were allowed the space of the pitch to do whatever the fornicate they wanted. Did that change? No - at Wembley, their midfield trinity just absolutely bossed the game, slaughtered our midfield.

And FFS - Messi is the best player on the planet. How about we not give him 10-15 yards of space and three or four touches to do what he wants?

I'm not upset we've lost to the best side in Europe - but so upset that we've given them the match the same way we did in 2009.

[shayan20]

Hussain jan, enjoy the game, leave the tactic talking in the trash, because no tactics in the world could have stopped this Barca. They were so fired up, its impossible to play against. Sometimes you have to hold your head up and say "I did my best, it wasn't good enough". How can it be that Man Utd get their "tactics" spot on for all the CL games prior to final, come out with best defensive unit of the competition but get slaughtered in the final? Fergusen is the king of tactics, but even he knows, there is no answer against this team when they play in form.

Mou tried the dirtiest tactics, with all their money, all their talk about attacking football, at home in CL first leg in Bernabeu, he defended like he was holding a 3-0 lead and told his players to tackle at every oppourtunity.... and still failed!

[EKBATAN]

i said it here first, it will be the saddest day in english football


one of the best games ever

[Babak]

Why wasn't Berbatov at least on the bench? Surely he could've added some sort of a spark those last 20 minutes.

I was very disappointed with Valencia today, the dude played like an absolute joke and was clearly overwhelmed with the moment.

[HuSsAiN]

Why wasn't Berbatov at least on the bench? Surely he could've added some sort of a spark those last 20 minutes.
I was very disappointed with Valencia today, the dude played like an absolute joke and was clearly overwhelmed with the moment.

Berbatov choice was explained. If the game was tight, and we needed a goal, then Owen would be a better finisher and answer to that. Also, with Barca, your not going to get time and space, Berba wants everything in his own ease..

Valencia and Chico were disappointing, but thats life.

Shayan, I do understand that this is a great Barca side, but i wouldn't have mind us giving you a 'game' and you beat us. We just made it easier than 2009, when Ferguson said ' we have learnt our mistakes '. Who am I to criticize Ferguson, but when it wasn't working in first half, then you have to change it at half time.. we didn't. we got slaughtered.

[K.C.I.N.]

The problem is that you have to at least TRY to play some football against Barca.
Fergie made the same mistakes that Mou did.
They both packed their midfields with destroyers rather than skillful football players.
With the likes of Park,Giggs,Carrick or Pepe in your midfield you will get easily outplayed by Buscets,Xavi or Iniesta. That's a fact.

[shayan20]

Why wasn't Berbatov at least on the bench? Surely he could've added some sort of a spark those last 20 minutes.

I was very disappointed with Valencia today, the dude played like an absolute joke and was clearly overwhelmed with the moment.

Valencia and Chicharito were absolute joke! I can't believe such low quality players are starters in this United team that won the Premire League! What does this say about PL quality? Berbatov top scorer this season hasn't scored in Europe for 2 years?! (it can't be that easy: they had a off day, they are simply stupid, specially chicha who was probably offside 10 times in first half within minutes.)

Chicharito can't believe how overrated he is by eng media. he was offside the whole game, and when he wasn't offside he was invisible, not even tracking back like Rooney to get the ball back.
Rooney on the other hand had a compete opposite performance than in 2009, he was united's best, created a goal out of nothing.

valencia looked like a loser the moment he entered the field, no wonder fergusen was shouting at him in the first half "get your shit together".

[soheil86]

It was just so blatant, after the first 10 minutes, that Xavi, Iniesta, Biscuit, and Messi were bossing it. Why not change it? Rather, what we did was keep it the same, let them boss it, and just allow them to win the match. Bonkers.

What bothers me is this:

We failed to learn anything from 2009. All this talk during the past week that we've learned our lessons and we are a more mature side and we are better prepared and the preparation has been exemplary - really?

You have to concede that Barcelona will get the fair share of possession - that's just how good a side they are. However, in Rome, we were poorly found out in midfield because we didn't press. Did that change? Once - we pressed up on a throw in and as a result, won possession back, scored. Other than that, sit back.

In Rome, Messi the "striker" played so much in between the lines and we had no answer for him. Did that change? No - I lost track of the number of times Messi was darting through the middle of the pitch with the ball, in those spaces between the midfield and center backs.

In Rome, we were shit in possession - we relied on far too many long, direct balls, and didn't play the ball short and build any attacks. Did that change? No. It was all direct - long goal kicks from van der Sar that went straight out of bounds, or over the top balls which were bread and butter for their defense.

In Rome, their midfielders were allowed the space of the pitch to do whatever the fornicate they wanted. Did that change? No - at Wembley, their midfield trinity just absolutely bossed the game, slaughtered our midfield.

And FFS - Messi is the best player on the planet. How about we not give him 10-15 yards of space and three or four touches to do what he wants?

I'm not upset we've lost to the best side in Europe - but so upset that we've given them the match the same way we did in 2009.

tactics can take so far, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is the passion, belief, and determination that matters the most. look at pique's galloping runs from the heart of the defense, look at passion and composure of xaviniesta, look at the fiery lion determination of messi. man u players simply did not have these characteristics.

[EKBATAN]

whats impressive is barca did all this without puyol

[HuSsAiN]

Valencia and Chicharito were absolute joke! I can't believe such low quality players are starters in this United team that won the Premire League! What does this say about PL quality? Berbatov top scorer this season hasn't scored in Europe for 2 years?! (it can't be that easy: they had a off day, they are simply stupid, specially chicha who was probably offside 10 times in first half within minutes.)

Chicharito can't believe how overrated he is by eng media. he was offside the whole game, and when he wasn't offside he was invisible, not even tracking back like Rooney to get the ball back.
Rooney on the other hand had a compete opposite performance than in 2009, he was united's best, created a goal out of nothing.

valencia looked like a loser the moment he entered the field, no wonder fergusen was shouting at him in the first half "get your shit together".

Seriously, it's very harsh criticizing Chico. Come on.. for a young striker, this was his FIRST proper competitive final. I knew it would be a tough occasion on him.

Rooney was always going to be better than 2009, coz he played in the middle, and in 2009 was at wing.

Well done Barca.. it's not the passing that I enjoy, but the determination to work hard when they don't have the ball is mesmerizing.

[HuSsAiN]

pouya, relax .. don't lower yourself like that.. aroom bash aziz. It's only football

[ihatefootball]

CL wins
La Liga - 13 (Real Madrid 9, Barcelona 4)
Serie A - 12 (Milan 7, Inter 3, Juventus 2)
EPL - 11 (Liverpool 5, Manchester U 3, Nottingham 2, Aston Villa 1)
Bundesliga - 6 (Bayern 4, Dortmund 1, Hamburg 1)

La Liga rules.