Manchester United arrived here hoping to make history, yet left having been consigned to it. The champions of England are too good not to come again in Europe next season, and empires can rise as well as fall in Rome, but last night nothing could console United’s magnificent supporters, who gave the team intense vocal backing yet were rewarded with a truly dreadful performance.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s horse won the 5.15 at Lingfield but his team of thoroughbreds simply were not at the races in the Infernal City. Uncertain defensively, United were careless in possession and lacking focus in attack. Invincible in the Premier League, they became invisible when it counted most in the Champions League. For those who admire United, their no-show was as astonishing as it was exasperating.The bitter truth for United is that Barcelona endured more testing times in their semi-final with Chelsea. None of Ferguson’s stars shone and, painful to report, they were handicapped. As the inquests begin, as the carcass of United’s embarrassing defeat is picked over, the tactics employed by Ferguson will inevitably come under the severest of scrutiny.
His decision to start Ryan Giggs in the hole behind Cristiano Ronaldo in a 4-2-3-1 formation backfired badly, managing the remarkable double of somehow leaving Ronaldo isolated and Michael Carrick and Anderson badly exposed. In a long season, this was a game too far for Giggs, who was constantly bypassed. A 4-3-3 approach, which most observers had expected, would have brought more security to midfield.
Given the stage, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Lionel Messi ran the show. Like Ronaldo, the left-sided Wayne Rooney cut an increasingly frustrated figure, waiting for a ball that rarely came such was Barcelona’s dominance of possession.
Chasing the game after Samuel Eto’o’s 10th-minute strike, Ferguson naturally had to introduce more attackers, first Carlos Tevez, then Dimitar Berbatov, but he imbalanced the team. First it was 4-2-4, then effectively 4-1-5. Iniesta and Xavi enjoyed large swathes of midfield to themselves, Barcelona’s rhythm section sending wave after wave of attacks rolling on to United’s foreshore. Poor Carrick resembled a fireman facing a large blaze with a short hose.
United were virtually playing the Polo formation – nothing in the middle – and Barcelona soon added a second, this time headed in by Messi. It is on chastening occasions like this that the loss to tendinitis of Owen Hargreaves is felt most acutely. A natural defensive midfielder, Hargreaves would have got among Xavi and Iniesta.
Ferguson was gracious in defeat, saluting the fabulous individual talents that make Barcelona so special, yet this was also a victory founded in hard work. Xavi and Iniesta did to Premier League opponents what the English often do to Continental foe: hound them out of possession. Messi, so small of frame yet so immense of talent, industrious as well as inventive, ended the debate over who was the best player on the planet.
After a bright opening, during which he seemed to adopt a shoot-on-sight policy, Ronaldo was too subdued. Although everyone at Old Trafford expects the European Footballer of the Year to stay, there were times in the closing stages when he seemed intent on endearing himself to any Real Madrid fans tuning in. Resplendent all in white, Ronaldo twice clattered Barcelona’s captain, Carles Puyol, earning a booking. At times, Ronaldo also appeared to be playing for himself, not for the team.
What a shame. This was a decent final, with the outcome thoroughly justified. United fans looking for some light on the darkest of nights will be encouraged by Ferguson’s post-match demeanour, by the spiky way he responded to a question about the hunger burning within him and his players. For all the gloom accompanying United back to England, Ferguson has the personnel and the attitude to reach next season’s final. They will be hurting. But they will be back.
And so will their fans. For a particularly unfortunate few, last night brought intense woe. A group of supporters whose tickets were stolen from Old Trafford were told by United to collect their replacements from a Portakabin outside the Olympic Stadium but inside the security cordon. Despite pleas to stewards and Uefa officials, these United fans missed the match. Such high-profile events are never perfect, and Uefa does deserve praise for tarting up the ageing stadium, but the ticketing system again needs re-examining. Forgeries also caused problems.
At times it seemed like the counterfeit champions had emerged from the tunnel. Deceptively, as it transpired, United had been the first to show, flying from the traps. Ronaldo tested Victor Valdes with a first-minute free-kick and Ji-sung Park almost reached the rebound. Still United menaced, Ronaldo firing two shots wide but Barcelona’s canny young coach, Pep Guardiola, was tweaking his front-line, switching Messi and Eto’o.
Suddenly, the little Argentine magician was through the middle, and United seemed distracted. Iniesta darted into a pocket of space, releasing the ball down the inside-right channel. Eto’o was off and running, cutting in towards goal, embarrassing Nemanja Vidic with the speed and angle of his attack. Voted player of the year by United’s footballers and fans alike, Vidic has enjoyed a fantastic season but endured a Fernando Torres moment here. As Carrick slid in, as Edwin van der Sar threw himself across, Eto’o flicked the ball with his right foot between the keeper and the post. Disaster. Barcelona were ahead and were not in the mood to surrender the ball, let alone the lead.
As Eto’o ran to the corner-flag, tears welling in his eyes, Rio Ferdinand sought to lift United’s spirits. The English fans responded, backing the players loudly as the pride of Old Trafford were given a lesson in possession by Barcelona. The eye kept being drawn to the darting box of tricks that was Messi, who dribbled past Carrick and Vidic, was knocked over, jumped up and kept going. Here was the “courage to play’’ that Ferguson had talked of. Messi’s blue boots were everywhere, striking dread into United hearts, one minute skipping away from Ferdinand, the next playing 1-2s with Iniesta. Sensational.
When United did get hold of the ball, Barcelona’s pressing was relentless. Ferguson began ringing the changes and the ringing soon sounded like alarm bells as Barcelona swept into untended space. Thierry Henry would have scored but for Van der Sar’s reflexes. Xavi would have scored but for a post repelling his free-kick. A deserved second soon arrived when Xavi, enjoying the freedom of Rome, crossed for Messi, the shortest player on the pitch, to loop a header over Van der Sar.
Game over. United’s hearts were broken.my comments : The Barca's goal was so romantic and superb..poor ronaldo :P
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