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Champions League: Manchester United v Barcelona

Ozren Podnar

Soccer holiday in Rome, but who will be feasting?

The European soccer season will close on Wednesday with a clash of the giants in Rome and Manchester United are hot, hot favourites against the unpredictable, but defensively soft Barcelona.

Barcelona will field an experimental defense after suspensions and injuries wreaked havoc on their back four. United might be without defensive lynchpin Rio Ferdinand.

United's form has been incredibly stable ever since August and that terrible defeat to Zenit in the European Supercup. Once they got into the winning rhythm, the Red Devils became relentless. Not even the most serious challenge by Liverpool for the title since 1991 upset them and Chelsea were hardly ever given a chance.

Manchester United and Barcelona have played seven games in UEFA competitions while Liverpool and Chelsea have met on six occasions, all of them in the last three years.

The World Club Cup and the League Cup were picked up along the way and the only competition lost was the FA Cup - on penalties to Everton. Last year's double winners have already won a treble this season, and the fourth trophy is on the way. Such continuity has rarely been witnessed in European soccer, not since the time of Liverpool's heyday in the seventies and eighties.

Finally, United have never lost a European final, if we count just the "proper" competitions as the Champions League or the Cup Winners' Cup.

Whether in extra-time against Benfica in 1968, in injury time against Bayern in 1999 or on penalties against Chelsea in 2008, United have won all three Champions League/Cup finals in which they appeared. They were also victorious against Barcelona's Dream Team in the 1991 Cup Winners' Cup final, making it four out of four.

Head to head: all red!

The head to head balance also favours the current English and European champs: Barca have managed to beat United only once in European cups, in 1994/95, winning 4-0 and 2-2 in the group stage. Manchester then failed to progress, having also been beaten by IFK Göteborg.

On the other four occasions, United achieved their goal at Barcelona's expense, starting from the Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinals in 1983/84, to the finals of the same competition in 1990/91, to the group stage of the Champions League in 1998/99 and ultimately in the last year's semis, when a Paul Scholes' early strike at Old Trafford proved crucial.

Both teams have recently secured their respective domestic championships, Manchester their 18th, Barcelona 19th overall, but the Spaniards look as though they had spent much more mental energy in their extended duel with perennial rivals Real Madrid.

On the other hand, Sir Alex Ferguson's squad seem to have had more of a plain sailing in the Premiership, economizing with their squad and winning games mostly by 1-0, 2-1 or 2-0.

Rome, May 27th Stadio Olimpico

Referee: Massimo Busacca (Switzerland)

Manchester United: Van der Sar; O'Shea, Ferdinand (Evans), Vidic, Evra; Anderson, Park, Carrick, Giggs; Ronaldo, Rooney
Subs: Kuszcak, Scholes, Berbatov, Tévez, Nani, Macheda
Suspended: Fletcher
Coach: Alex Ferguson

Barcelona: Valdés; Puyol, Touré, Piqué, Silvinho; Keita, Xavi, Iniesta (Busquets); Messi, Eto'o, Henry
Subs: Pinto, Cáceres, Hleb, Gudjonhsen, Krkic, Pedro
Suspended or injured: Alves, Abidal, Márquez, Milito
Coach: Josep Guardiola

Ozren Podnar

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