To say
uncharacteristic sloppiness & nervous looking play
slipped into United game next was an understatement as
United fell apart, Rio Ferdinand's back pass to EVDS
shortly after kick off was so off the mark it rolled out
for a corner, a corner which fortunately evaded everyone
as the ball was sent dangerously across the box.
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Outside Stadio Olyimpico |
The
mistakes kept coming as Anderson opened United up to the
counter when he swiped at a ball and missed completely
giving possession back to Barcelona, Ryan Giggs also
poor in his decision making albeit his job was made
harder as United's stagnant forwards were marked by a
flooded midfield area with Messi tucking into midfield
making Carrick & Anderson job harder & harder.
United's most threatening outfield player Ronaldo was
the light of faith for some sort of goal and after quick
counter attack he won a free kick at the expense of
Gerard Pique who blocked Ronaldo's passage into the
penalty area, a block which also cost the young Spaniard
a yellow card.
A point worth making would also be that Pique as replays
showed was the last man before the goal keeper & that
Toure Yaya would no way be able to get back , leaving Mr
Pique perhaps a very lucky boy still to be on the field.
The resulting free kick was a non entity as Ronaldo for
some strange reason allowed Ryan Giggs a rare free kick
attempt which sailed over harmlessly.
Lionel Messi then had
the crowd gasping after Eto'o picked his team mate
out on the edge of the box and as both Carrick &
Anderson stood off the brilliant Argentine, his left
foot shot just rose over the bar with EVDS beaten.
The United keeper unhappy with both Carrick &
Anderson as he pointed out their lack of effort in
stopping th
e
shot with a shake of the head & a word in the ear.
United
then saw JSP felled in a crunching but very fair tackle
by Victor Valdes after some neat passing by United, the
Reds or Whites if you will continued to pressure briefly
as Ronaldo dragged another shot wide of the target &
headed a corner over the bar.
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It was all too much for the Oldies. |
A clever
tactic from Barcelona for the United corners was to
restrict the amount of United height & muscle in the
penalty area as the Barca forwards took up normal
attacking positions limiting United defenders going into
the box for the corner.
Enjoying possession but not threatening United,
Barcelona won a free kick after Anderson finally decided
to tackle, however after committing a foul on Iniesta,
Xavi went close with a free kick over the bar almost on
the half hour.
The Spaniards then enjoyed their best spell of the 1st
half with a number of crosses & corners, but never
troubling United as all were blocked & dealt with easily
by Vidic, Ferdinand & co.
SAF immediate brought on Carlos Tevez for the poor show
that was Anderson (Editor: among others), but it
was Barca who created the 1st chance of the second half
when Thierry Henry after a great pass from Xavi troubled
& turned Rio Ferdinand before seeing his low shot saved
by the legs of EVDS.
Xavi then hit a post from a free kick as Barcelona
created more chances in the start of the second than the
whole of the 1st.
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It don't half lean that Tower |
United
replied when Wayne Rooney who arguably must have felt
the pain more than anyone after his and many many other
team mates poor performances curled a cross into the box
which everyone somehow managed to miss including JSP
from the left as the South Korean saw the ball bounce
over his head.
JSP made way for Berbatov as SAF rolled his dice, but
United soon slipped further behind when Messi lost his
markers due to the slack play from Evra, as a chuckle
brother moment from Ronaldo & the French full back to
gather a ball from EVDS on the half way line went wrong
after both players got in each others paths.
Puyol nipped in and capitalised on the error finding
Eto'o on the right, but as Carrick blocked Evra made a
pathetic attempt at clearing the ball selling his team
mates short as Xavi's cross then found the Argentine
forward alone & unmarked and a technically perfect
header later looped over EVDS as United fell 2-0 down.
United's immediate response was Berbatov finding Giggs
in the box but as Giggs found only a resolute Barca
defence blocking his shot the Barca defence did the same
again blocking Ronaldo.
Screaming like a girl,
Puyol cheated his way to a free kick on the outside
of the box on the right after a tackle from Ronaldo
& as replay showed the Barcelona Captain made the
most of the challenge before he almost scored when
he headed the free kick straight at EVDS.
Paul
Scholes was introduced for Giggs & a booking
followed for Ronaldo when he shouldered Puyol to the
ground, however Scholes found himself
fortunate to be on the pitch when he felled Sergio
Busquets.
Iniesta went downfield and struck a solid effort
straight at EVDS with Busquets still rolling around
like he had lost a limb & as United stopped play
Scholes was yellow carded for his earlier challenge.
Berbatov headed over a corner & Tevez almost latched
on to long punted ball from United's keeper shortly
before the final whistle blown and Barcelona were
crowned Champions Of Europe.
Editors Final word.
One thing is for certain, everyone has an opinion on
the resons we were beaten, some more amusing &
inaccurate than others, but one thing is for certain
in my opinion for what its worth,
contrary to the press on the aftermath of the
defeat, we do not need to rebuild, only four months
ago we were hailed by the same people as the best on
the planet.
The simple fact is, over two legs not much of a year
ago Barcelona were tactically knocked out of Europe
by Manchester United.
In this match on a bigger scale, they turned up, we
didn't.
Article by Mark Graham, Editor, Record Keeper & Official
Reporter @ MUFCINFO.COM.
Eto'o (10 mins).
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