Barcelona are Europe's new club champions.

In the end, Barcelona’s slick passing style was way too much for Manchester United to handle.  If you only watched the first five minutes of this game, you would have put all your money on Manchester United to crush Barcelona.  But by the end of the game it was the other way around, with Barcelona’s fans shouting “OLE!” every time they completed yet another pass in and around the Manchester United defense.  

Eto celebrates his tenth minute goal

In the opening minutes Manchester dominated play, by creating an onslaught on the Barcelona goal.  Cristiano Ronaldo and Ji-Sung Park both came close to scoring for Manchester early on.  But the game was turned on its head when Barcelona scored against the run of play in the tenth minute.  Andres Iniesta ran through the midfield with the ball before slipping a neat pass through to Samuel Eto inside Manchester United’s box.  Eto then cut past Nemanja Vidic before stabbing the ball past Edwin van der Sar at the near post.  After the goal, Barcelona seized the momentum, and began to boss the game by maintaining possession of the ball.  Andres Iniesta and Xavi began to look particularly dominant in midfield.  In my preview of the game, I mentioned that if these two players could keep possession of the ball for Barcelona, my guess was that their team would carry the day.  By halftime it looked like my hunch was right, but I wasn’t sure what Sir Alex Ferguson might pull out his bag of tricks at half time.  He brought on Carlos Tevez in place of Andersen, and for a few minutes, the choice looked to be effective with Tevez lunging at defenders and breaking up Barcelona’s play out of the back.  I expected more of a full-blooded response from United as a whole though, but truth be told, it turned out to be more of the same in the second half.  Xavi, and Iniesta continued to dominate possession in midfield, while Barcelona’s makeshift backline of Puyol, Pique, Toure, and Sylvinho somehow began to look like the world’s best defense.  Things went from bad to worse for United in the 70^th minute, when Xavi sent a beautiful spinning ball across the face of the United goal to pick out Messi, who leapt and lofted a headed goal into the corner past van der Sar. 

Messi scores Barcelona's second goal.

Save for a few moments of counter attack excitement from United, the remainder of the match was spurred on by Barcelona’s neat distribution.  It seemed like United had no answer for Barcelona’s swift and subtle passes, and Ronaldo in particular looked frustrated.  He earned himself a yellow card for shoving Puyol late in the game, but was fortunate not to be booked earlier for a few rash challenges.  With the stakes high in this game, it now looks exceedingly likely that the votes for World Player of the Year will probably go to Messi, rather than Ronaldo.  Messi was not only was the top scorer in the Champions league, but also managed to score in the final, with Ronaldo silenced.  Messi and his Barcelona teammates found a way to break down the Red Devils, and were justified in their celebrations as European Club Champions.  After witnessing the Champions League Final, if Lionel Messi gets the plaudits this year for European and World Player of the Year, the awards he receives will be equally justified.

The Champions League Trophy

It’s on.  The dream final is set for May 27^th in Rome. It’s Barcelona’s beautiful game vs. Manchester United’s world-beaters.  You couldn’t ask for anything more in a final.  The game pits Spain’s best vs. England’s best, and affords United the chance to defend their European title against a Barcelona side that is arguably the most stylish team in the world at the moment.  And the best part is there should be goals, goals, and more goals. 

Lionel Messi-The Young Gun

If you are a European soccer fan, then you don’t need me to tell you that the final on May 27^th will be worth watching.  But if you aren’t a fan of soccer (or football as it’s known everywhere else in the world-and for good reason), the UEFA Champions League Final on the 27^th is the perfect introduction. Not only will you get to watch the reigning World Player of the Year in Cristiano Ronaldo, in arguably his biggest game, but you’ll also get to watch the new kid on the block square off against him.  Lionel Messi, who was last year’s runner up, is the guy that seems to get everyone’s vote as the new World Player of the Year, and it will be fascinating to see which player’s talents are the most influential in the final.  Beyond this gargantuan battle between the two best players in the world, there is the battle of the teams they play for.  Manchester United are the reigning European and World Club Champions.  They also were just crowned Champions of the English Premier League for a record tying eighteenth time.  So needless to say, they are doing all right.  Barcelona were recently crowned Champions of the Primera Liga in Spain, a week after winning the country’s elimination round tournament known as the Copa Del Rey.  Reports from Spain claim that a win in the final against Manchester United would put an exclamation point on the club’s best season ever.

Cristiano Ronaldo-The Reigning Champ

But let’s get to the goals part.  Barcelona will be missing their best defenders in Rafael Marquez (knee injury) and Carles Puyol (suspension), so chances are that Manchester United’s awesome Ronaldo led attack force will score some goals. United are by no means a one trick pony, with Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, and Carlos Tevez fighting for playing time up front.  That being said, Barcelona head into the final boasting the most potent strike force in Europe this year. Their three-prong attack, led by the twenty one year old Messi, Samuel Eto, and Thierry Henry, has combined for more goals than any other team on the continent this year.  The question is, whether or not their skills can get the best of Manchester United’s well-oiled machine of a defense.  But of course the larger question is:  Who’s going to win?  My guess is that Barcelona’s superior midfield, led by Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, will carry the day. Will there be goals, goals, and more goals?  I can’t say for sure, but if the game lives up to it’s promise, people will be talking about this one for decades.  My advice: tune in.