So this pill is a little hard to swallow for me, seeing as how I am such a huge Manchester United fan, but Barcelona are the 2009 UEFA Champions League title winners winners. I didn't have the opportunity to watch the game today as I was at work and unable to really get away from my desk. I watched the gamecast though on ESPN Soccernet, and based on that, I really thought that Barca wiped the floor with us based on the commentators words and the random Facebook chatter that was going on during the game. I will be the first to give Barcelona their credit for just being the better team today, but I think it was just as equally a case of United not showing up today.
With the likes of Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Eto'p and others, it was always going to be a difficult game for us. Once I was able to get home today and watch the game for myself, I got to see what Sir Alex Ferguson said in his post game comments, that basically Barca's first goal killed us and we never truly recovered. Those first ten minutes we gave their defense hell and were lucky not to be up one goal off of Cristiano Ronaldo's first free kick. Park wasn't able to reach out and get there fast enough for the rebound before being tackled by a Barca defender. It continued after that with wave after wave of United attack with Ronaldo looking especially lively, until Samuel Eto'o took his goal beautifully well. From that moment on we just were never able to get composed again and the last thing you ever want to do is go down 1-0 to a team like Barca who know how to keep possession well and just knock the ball around.
I look at that first goal though and can't help but think about how much we missed Darren Fletcher tonight. His tireless running, box-to-box mentality and ability to cover well on defense was much needed tonight, as Eto'o did well to beat Vidic on the goal, Carrick was a bit late with the help, allowing the three time African Player of the Year to beat Van Der Sar. In addition to that Fletcher would have been just the energy we needed to pry the ball away from Barca and regain some of that possession as he has done this for us all campaign long. That bogus red card he received against Arsenal in the semi final against Arsenal hurt us tonight as we missed his usual contribution.
I have always said that Michael Carrick is one of our most important players, with his ability to open up defenses with his precision passing, and his good footballing brain, but he did not have his best game tonight. Often his passes were intercepted, or just beyond the reach of the intended target and he never seemed to get into rhythm. It's tough as I wish I could highlight one player who had a good night for us, but I really can't. I also don't make it a habit of questioning Sir Alex and the lineup choices, but I really think we should have started with at least one pure striker in the lineup tonight whether it was Tevez or Berbatov, or both to really test Yaya Toure who was a makeshift center back for Barca in the absence of Rafa Marquez. In his defence though, Sir Alex has so often gotten the team selection right, that I dare not question him on his this one. His record as our manager over the past 22 years and well over 30 medals he has won give him that right, plus the knowledge that he will just work harder to win the trophy next year.
I heard some people say that because of this game Lionel Messi is undoubtedly the best player in the world ahead of Cristiano, and that is rubbish. Outside of his well taken goal inthe 70th minute today I didn't really think he imposed his stamp on the game much today, on or off the ball. For me Barca's best players were Carlos Puyol and Gerard Pique (a Manchester United youth team product) as they were the difference between us getting the gaols we needed to take the trophy. Messi's second goal was due in large part to Puyol twice winning the ball in midfied and then dishing to Xavi who crossed the ball to Messi for the second goal. Gerard Pique defended well all evening and did well to stop a few of the good attacks we had, not to mention neutralizing Tevez when he was introduced to the game. I thought Messi gave us more trouble last year in the semi final than he did today. We did a decent job of shackling him up until he got his goal.
All in all, congrats to Barca and Pep Guardiola who had a great first season at the Camp Nou winning three medals and all. We just didn't show up tonight and were beaten by a team who wanted it more.
Maybe next year....
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