2008/2009 UEFA Champions League Final: Barcelona vs. Manchester United Preview

The two best teams in Europe with stars from countries all over the world, square off in a finale that will be witnessed from all over the world on May 27.

Manchester United has nothing to prove after dominating once again in league and cup play. They are seeking to be the first team to repeat as UEFA champions and stand a great chance to do so.

AC Milan won the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1989 and 1990 but the current UEFA format has yet to produce a back-to-back winner. ManU will be shooting for their fourth overall European crown.

Manchester United’s opponent also possess a rich tradition and has a bone to pick with the team that knocked them out of the UEFA championships a year prior. Barcelona is seeking their second UEFA Champions League crown in four years and third continental title. Barcelona won their first European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1992.

Manchester United got to the finals after going undefeated in the first group stage finishing atop Group E with 10 points in six matches which included four draws. Villareal was able to hold ManU scoreless in two contests but ultimately finished second in group play because they did not record a goal either. In the semi-finals, ManU won the first leg at home 1-0 versus Arsenal and then beat them 3-1 in London for a 4-1 aggregate victory to advance to their fourth overall final.



Barcelona advanced to the finals by recording 13 points in six matches coming out on top in Group C. Despite a 3-2 loss at home to eventual UEFA Cup finalists Shakhtar Donetsk, the Spanish giant was able to overcome a semi-final showdown with Chelsea after recording a 0-0 first leg draw in Sapin. Andres Iniesta was able to score a goal with three minutes left in injury time to tie the second leg at 1-1 ultimately winning the tiebreaker on away goals to reach their sixth European final.

Barcelona has scored 151 league and cup goals this season with Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and Samuel Eto’o forming a deadly combination up front. Messi is widely considered as one of, if not, the best player in the world and is just as important to his squad than Cristiano Ronaldo is for the Red Devils.

Barecelona and manager Pep Guardiola are looking to keep up their attacking ways that have served them so well thus far to dethrone mighty ManU. “I think we have been able to show maturity the last few months, but tomorrow’s game is the most important,” stated Guardiola at a press conference one day before the big game. “I want to players to be daring because they deserve it. I want them to show the world how good we are.”

Messi and Ronaldo are certainly the players that are expected to steal the show in the Italian capital of Rome, but there are many other players that will have an impact. The aforementioned Henry, Iniesta and Eto’o will also be joined by Xavi for the Barcelona side, while Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov will almost certainly have an impact for the ManU side.

Laurent Blanc, a former Barcelona and Manchester United player, stated that the two teams will be playing in a “dream final” and proclaims there to be “no favorite to win the title.” Blanc certainly can speak from experience in a rivalry that will see the teams meet for the tenth time. ManU has three wins and Barcelona has two. There have been four draws with the most recent match-up taking place last season’s UEFA semi-final in which ManU won the return leg 1-0 to take the 1-0 aggregate victory.

As even as the two club's past nine contests have been, Wednesday night in Rome should be just as close. Expect the unexpeted in this match-up and watch for Messi to play bigger than Ronaldo elevating his team to victory, 2-1.

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