Dmac

VISCA BARÇA CAMPEÒNES!

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King Steventon

Totally out-classed Man U for pretty much the whole game after the first ten minutes.

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Crest Fall

Yeah I'll just echo my thoughts from the other thread. I was surprised to see United dominate from early on, I expected it to be a very even match up throughout. After that ten minute mark, Barca just dominated the match.

CGS

Man U were playing well up to the first 10 minutes. After Barca scored they pretty much dominated the game. Man U had a couple of good chances but Barca were just better in every aspect of the night

MOTM - Iniesta

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James Deuce

/waits for Fergie to blame the loss on the new ball

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Dmac

Fergie was a lot better about it than I thought, he conceded that they lost to a better team.

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James Deuce

The happiest man on earth is Michel Platini.

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Dmac

I'd say Guardiola would have something to say about that.

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Tommy Platinum

First and foremost: Congratulations to Barcelona.

I doubted them after the Chelsea tie, because to be fair they didn't deserve to go through, but tonight they proved that they are the best team in the world and fully deserve to be European Champions. Well done to Pep, winning the TREBLE in his first season in management and well done to all their players.

Now, onto the game.

Obviously it was a disappointing performance from us but it was more that Barcelona were brilliant. I've never seen a midfield with more technical ability. Iniesta was man of the match and that's one of the best displays I've seen in a European final. Xavi was amazing too. They basically played us off the park for most of the game. We started well and could have taken the lead early on, which would have changed the whole game, but from the moment Eto'o scored (still one of the best strikers in the world) we were second best. It was a bad goal to concede and we had made a better start than them, but I think we handled it badly. We seemed to panic once we went behind and obviously Barcelona's confidence increased and they started playing their passing game and basically we just couldn't get the ball off them. When we did, we panicked and looked for the long ball or just hacked it clear, meaning they dominated possession. How often is the first goal in finals crucial? Once we went behind against a team with the ball retention skills of Barcelona it was always going to be an uphill struggle, but I still backed us to get an equaliser. Obviously we had a bad first half and I was glad to hear the half time whistle because we looked more likely to concede a second than get back on level terms.

In the second half, we started well and I was confident, but then there was a period in the match when we were really riding our luck and Barcelona had several chances to get the (probably) killer second. Henry's miss was one, and when Xavi hit the post with his freekick I thought that it might be our day after all, but alas, it wasn't to be. When Messi scored his great header I thought it was pretty much over, but we nearly got 1 back immediately which could have produced a late rally.

In the end though, we deserved to lose. I'm disappointed but I'm glad we lost to a great team. If we were going to go out, I'd rather it be to Barcelona than anybody else. No complaints about the result but I thought some of our players were a bit disappointing, particularly Carrick, Rooney and Vidic. Maybe the occasion got to them. Disappointed to lose but happy to get to two finals.

Barcelona are a hell of a team and deserve their success.

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PeaceSells

Worst I've seen United play in ages.

Van Der Sar is possibly the only player who could say he played alright in a United shirt. Evra wasn't bad I guess.

The two centre-backs, best in the world? Not on the big stage apparently. Both had injury problems, but if that's the case, I can guarantee Jonny Evans would have played better than them. Have the balls to play him Fergie.

Carrick, I'm sure he was told to play these long balls at Puyol all night, but he couldn't find one. He couldn't find a man about ten yards half the time the way he was playing tonight. Terrible. O'Shea was another particularly sloppy player with his passing tonight, though wasn't too bad apart from that.

I haven't seen United give the ball away so cheaply ever before I don't think. Terrible.

For all the money they're apparently worth, Ronaldo and Rooney were pretty poor. We're still missing a quality goal scorer no doubt, and we could do with a world class midfielder to pull some strings after all.

Giggs? Done. Awful performance too. Why he was playing so high up the pitch is beyond me, but if you're going to, do something please. Park didn't do a thing either.

Tevez came on for Anderson and looked like he was interested at least. Anderson was terrible also. He with about two others have to take a large chunk of blame for the first goal.

Just an all round awful performance. A lot has to fall in Fergie's lap though I think. Got the tactics all wrong. Long balls? Eh, why? That's not our style of play, so don't play it.

Trying to take Barca on at their own game? Eh, why? It's not how we play, so why take on the masters of it? Just contain them like Chelsea did, keep it tight and punish them on the counter attack like we're so good at.

Terrible decisions all round by United, and Ferguson.

I don't even think Barca played that well, they were alright, but with the space and time on the ball they had why wouldn't they be? And why would they need to be better than alright when United played that badly.

Shame that we didn't get a United team on form for the spectacle's sake as much as anything.

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