Goals from Pedro, Lionel Messi and David Villa gave Barcelona their fourth European Cup triumph, and although United were for a time level thanks to a Wayne Rooney strike, Barca were deserved winners and rarely looked threatened after retaking the lead.
Each side selected a Brazilian in their starting line-ups, with Dani Alves playing at right back for Barcelona and Fabio occupying the same position for the English side. Adriano and Thiago were unused substitutes for Barcelona, as was Anderson for United. But the main talking point of the team selections was the omission of Dimitar Berbatov, who was not even on the bench for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
Carles Puyol was missing for the Spanish Champions, and they appeared to be missing him early on as United started on top, pressuring their opponents high up the pitch and gaining a good level of possession. But as nearly every team has found against Barcelona, that cannot last, and after he had already prodded wide, Pedro gave the Spaniards the lead on 27 minutes after a glorious pass from Xavi.
Barcelona were dominating the play and it looked as if the floodgates could open, but United showed good spirit and hauled themselves level seven minutes level. Wayne Rooney played a neat one-two with Ryan Giggs before emphatically firing the ball past Victor Valdes to make it 1-1, which it remained until half-time.
Despite the setback, Barca maintained their effective passing style and remained in control of the ball for remarkably lengthy periods. Alves was denied by a good save, but ten minutes after the break, they were back in front. Lionel Messi was left with far too much space 25 yards out and shot low past Edwin van der Sar, although the Dutch goalkeeper will be disappointed with his positioning as he made his final career appearance.
Pep Guardiola’s side never looked back from then on and demonstrated just why some people are labelling them the greatest side of all time. Their ball retention was phenomenal, and they put the victory beyond doubt with 20 minutes remaining as David Villa curled in a sensational effort from 20 yards.
The rest of the game passed without much incident as Barca cruised to their third Champions League title win in the last six campaigns. This was arguably a clash of the two best clubs in Europe, but Barcelona were a cut above as they have been all season, and were worthy winners.
