The night beauty beat the beast

Despite all the bumming up of Manchester United in the run up to last nights final by the media, I never for a minute thought that they would win it back to back. To beat Barcelona they would have to play their strongest team and every player would have to be on TOP form. Neither happened and from ten minutes in there was never going to be any doubt that the Catalans would emerge as victors.

From Vidic letting Eto'o skin him to Van Der Saar being beaten at his near post, the poor form just seemed to surge through the whole team including their £30,000,000 substitute (can't remember his name but you know the guy with the greasy hair and lazy demenour who used to play for a shitty North London team). Rooney was totally lost on the left, Carrick's passing was poor and crucially they didn't get the usual slice of luck and refereeing decisions that they seem to enjoy week in week out in the Prem. I am not for a minute suggesting that they are not worthy champions, but they do grind out a lot of results and against a team of Barcelona's calibre, they just didn't have the required quality. It seemed to be a surprise to many how they capitulated, but I expected them to lose though perhaps not as comprehensively as they did.

Barca were missing players like Marquez, Abidal and Alvez. However, the players who did play were excellent. Messi is the greatest player in the world and he proved it. Iniesta ran the midfield and Pique was commanding at the back. Even Eto'o surprised me with his work rate and willingness to get back and help. 

I am happy Barcelona won and hope to  see some more sanity from the media regarding Manchester United and Ronaldo. They are very good but last night they were up against GREAT. Nice to see Thierry get a well deserved winner's medal. Barca will not defend it either because next year is the turn of Arsenal !!! I hope :)