Beneath the soaring Wembley arch, Barcelona ascended to new heights. Inspired by an exhilarating Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola’s team swept past Manchester United in a thrilling performance and, with their third Champions League title in the last six seasons, they earned the right to be called one of the very greatest club sides in the history of the game.
United had their moments of sporadic resistance and Wayne Rooney, who fought defiantly, scored a superb equaliser in the first half but ultimately Barcelona were simply too good. There might have been parity in the half-time scoreline but, as Messi and David Villa scored in the second half, the gap in class was impossible to deny.
This 90 minutes of excellence was the consummation of the Dutch philosophy imported to the club by Johan Cruyff two decades ago, refined by Frank Rijkaard and now perfected by Guardiola. The Barcelona manager was on this pitch when his club won their first European Cup back in 1992 but not even Cruyff’s Dream Team are a match for this gifted group.
The statistics cannot convey the style in which Barcelona played but they can give you an indication of their dominance. They had 19 attempts on goal to United’s four, had 67 per cent of the possession and completed 667 passes to United’s 301. They imposed themselves with near total authority.
Sir Alex Ferguson was gracious in defeat, quick to congratulate Barcelona. He had spent the last fortnight on the training ground trying to concoct a way of disrupting the mesmeric passing of this team, trying to find a way to stop this being a repeat of the 2009 defeat.
Where he had tried to contain them in Rome, this time he decided to be bold, sending out a team with two strikers and two wingers.
For the first 10 minutes it looked like it was working. United started with intensity and aggression, giving Barcelona a taste of their own full-court press. Ji-sung Park made three superb tackles in the first five minutes alone, including one on Messi. Without the leadership of Carles Puyol, not fit enough to start, the Barcelona defence looked rattled. Victor Valdes had to come racing off his line to punch the ball away from Rooney and then Gerard Pique almost passed the ball beyond the Barcelona goalkeeper under pressure from Javier Hernández.
Once that initial burst of energy waned, Barcelona found their composure. Xavi took control and Messi made his first darting run of the game, finishing it with a pass to Pedro - Nemanja Vidic had to be alert to close him down.
Villa hit one crisp shot wide and had another saved by Edwin Van der Sar and first Vidic and then Rio Ferdinand tackled Messi brilliantly but, having started with a high defensive line, United were being pushed deeper and deeper. They were struggling to hold on to the ball when they won it back, and there was an edge of desperation about their passing. Hernández, nervous, struggled and was repeatedly offside.
It was little surprise when Barcelona took the lead. Andres Iniesta exchanged passes with Sergio Busquets before poking the ball through to Xavi. Ryan Giggs was not close enough and the Barcelona captain, head up, eyes darting, closed on the United box, flicking an exquisite pass with the outside of his boot to Pedro. The Barcelona forward had discreetly evaded Patrice Evra and Vidic could not get across in time to prevent him from passing the ball past Van der Sar at the near post.
Ferguson was becoming animated on the touchline, clearly frustrated at the way his team were surrendering possession. Yet United were not going to roll over, equalising with a goal in the style of their opponents.
Rooney picked up a loose ball on the right and played a quick one-two with Michael Carrick before surging towards the Barcelona box. He then flicked the ball to Giggs with the outside of his boot and the Welshman, who replays showed was just offside, cushioned it with his thigh before teeing up Rooney again. The England striker crashed his powerful shot past Valdes.
Not that Barcelona appeared shaken. A brilliant free-kick routine between Xavi and Busquets almost found Pedro and then Messi set off on one of his incredible runs, skipping clear of Vidic, sprinting away from Carrick before finding Villa on the right with a perfect pass. Villa’s return cross was just ahead of the Argentina forward.
United could not keep Barcelona out for long, though, not sitting that deep and with that little of the ball. Iniesta and Xavi were almost at walking pace in the last third when they worked the ball to Messi, who drove to the ‘D’ and shot low and into the net. He should have been closed down more effectively but the shot was almost in the middle of the goal and it was a concession way below Van der Sar’s usual standards.
The Dutchman did his best to make up for it, saving first from Messi with his legs and then brilliantly from Xavi’s curving shot from range. There was, though, nothing he could do to stop Barcelona’s third.
Messi again went shimmying into the United area and the ball broke to Busquets. He rolled it to the edge of the area where Villa had taken up position, rolling his studs over the ball before striking an accurate, dipping shot into the top corner.
There were sporadic efforts on United’s part to get back into the game. Rooney hit a shot on to the roof of the net from outside the area and Giggs was convinced his team should have had a late penalty. It showed the mental strength of those two players that they refused to give up — even against all the evidence of Barcelona’s superiority.
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