Football Leagues » Champions League Articles » Barca Rout United
Barca Rout United
History in the Making: Barcelona are rewriting the record books
Lee Bennett
The 2011 Champions League final had statisticians, purists and historians salivating as Barcelona served up a football master class, putting a quietly confident Manchester United side to de estocada to claim their third Champions League title in six years.
A United team that claimed the Premier League title by nine points and won all but one of their home games were playing “at home” hoping to revive the memories of 1968 and seemingly in with a shout of upsetting the general 3/1 pre-match odds that the bookies were offering.
But as the Manchester men trudged off the Wembley pitch at the final whistle, out-passed, out-fought, out-thought, and utterly trounced by three superb goals to an arguably offside one from Wayne Rooney, it became apparent that odds of a million to one might have been closer.
“Tonight we were beaten by the best team in Europe. I think it is the best team we have ever played.” These were Sir Alex Ferguson's post match comments and tell the story. We are witnessing history as the Catalans carve a unique chapter in their fabulous history.
Barcelona can boast eight of the Spanish squad that won the 2010 World Cup, several of whom were also Euro2008 winners. How do you improve on that? You add the world's best player, Lionel Messi.
Six of the team that faced United at Wembley were named in the 2010 FIFA World XI. United had none. At the same gala Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez came first, second and third in the 2010 FIFA World Player of the Year awards; the first time the final three were provided from one club. Messi has come second, second, first and first in the past four years and looks like he will dominate the next few.
This stellar line up is the best team on paper but football is played on grass, not paper. Put them on grass though and they morph into something not seen before - a team that can dominate games from first minute to last, toying with opponents and looking like they can score at will. They won La Liga with 96 points and 95 goals and at times were simply unplayable. Their 5-0 humbling of Real Madrid in December ranks as one of the all-time great performances.
In the one-sided Wembley final Messi and Co scored three sumptuous goals from twelve attempts on target and dominated 63% of possession. Wayne Rooney scored from United's single shot at goal. While Ji Sung Park and Antonio Valencia were working their socks off but being shown up as the limited players they are, Xavi was completing 141 of 148 passes - more than the five best United players added together.
The misguided criticism that half of those passes simply go sideways misses the point that this is the key to Barca's game plan. It is a mesmerizing mix of short, quick interplay, probing and waiting for the opening where they spring into action, piling forward in numbers and exposing gaping holes in Europe's best defences.
Hardly a pass is wasted. They revel in possession, painting brush strokes across the pitch, hogging the ball and quickly hassling it back again when it is lost. At the opposing end they are ruthlessly efficient from inside and outside the box as all three goals last night showed.
And if all that isn't enough, Barcelona are the envy of most fans off the pitch as well as on; they are a club owned by the fans run as a registered association; they only recently broke with their tradition of not having a shirt sponsor by accommodating UNICEF and donating €1.5m a year to the fund; and the player who lifted the trophy at Wembley was left back Eric Abidal, two months on from a liver tumour operation that threatened his life never mind his career.
That final nice touch was one more example of the admirable traditions of a football club that is run with class and panache and has just given the world a lesson in how to win football matches.
As FC Barcelona stride towards the pantheon of footballing gods all we can do is sit back and watch with admiration as history is created before us.
|
|
