Poll: Barcelona or Man Utd?

Manchester United have all it takes to outwit Barca, siple.

LOL...OrangeMam, i think you should go reread my post. Nowhere do i say we will beat Utd, quite the contrary, I admit just how difficult it will be considering the circumstances. I was not being prejudiced at all, i was just pointing out the ludicrous flaws in some of the statements that preceded mine. There is no favourite in this game, either side have the capability to win. I think you are the one who is "superbly biased, outrageous and prejudiced" if you really think Utd is so much better than Barca. A Utd that struggled to beat Porto over two legs. A utd that was demolished by Liverpool AT HOME. A UTd that coulnt beat Villareal over two legs (a team currently struggling to make a CL spot for next season). My point is not that Barca WILL win, my point is that it is an even contest and some of the posts claiming Barca will get hammered are just ridiculous. That is what i was countering. Did you even read my post or did you just see i was a Barca fan, assume i was saying we would beat UTD and then go on a rant yourself.

I mean really some of your statements are quite silly. You say my posts are not worth the pixels they are written on but some of the things you say are so heaped in bias im not sure how the irony escaped you while you were typing.

"they are simply a better team unit"....sorry that is just not true. there is no better team unit in football at the moment. we attack together, we press the ball together and we defend together. we work more as a team than any other group. just ask Chelsea what happened every time they got the ball, they couldnt string more than 3 passes together before being hounded by Barca players. we work as a team and press the ball as good as anyone.

"more firepower up top"...lol... well thats not a biased statement now is it?? lol...our front 3 alone have scored almost twice as many goals as Utd have scored all season. That is 3 players who have scored almost twice as many as 11. The maths here is pretty simple.

"have a better defense"....that i agree with. Utd have maybe the most balanced team in the world. Their defense is as good as anybodies which is why they are the most dangerous team to face. They can defend and attack with pace and precision.

Utd are more balanced as a team, but Barca are more dangerous going forward, they retain possession better and they work harder off the ball. To say one team is better or worse than the other is ignorant and presumptuous. To say that one of these two teams is the favourite is just naive. They are both great teams and it will be a great game that either side can win.

Hilal - your posts are superbly biased, outrageous and prejudiced and barely worth the pixels they are written on. Smart money is on Utd, despite your rants and tirades to the contrary. They are simply a better team unit, have a better defence and have more firepower up top. I've watched Barca in La Liga...teams give them too much respect and don't press them enough - when they are pressed (which United will do), they have no clue what to do and come up short of ideas. Yes, even Messi. Who I actually think is terrific. I don't think you've given one reason why/how you think Barcelona will win as yet. Perhaps just that you haven't lost when you should have. I know, I know, you'd "LOVE IT" Kevin Keegan style if you win and no doubt you'd show your class by coming on here and shouting your mouth off again. I just don't think it will happen. Sorry pal. At least have the decency to enter into a debate about it without having to resort to flinging insults around. I await your venemous, lopsided response with baited breathe....*yawn* (was that an insult??...surely not..)

it doesnt matter, the competiton is a joke now anyway, its being dragged through the gutter, platini can keep his tin cup, were putting the youths and reserves out next year

Doesn't sound unbiased to me, Don, I have to say. If I were a neutral, I would say that the visible strengths of the two sides balance each other out. Tevez is a match-changer. Barca doesn't really have a match-changer to come off the bench.

There really isn't any real way to compare the two leagues, short of having them play head-to-head matches from top to bottom. But I suspect that if you did that, absent any bus-parking, the level of football played in La Liga might surprise you.

Both sides have a "cup swagger" about them, and will roll into the final bristling with confidence, Man U because they flogged an Arsenal team that went belly-up as fast as it could (Did they just hammer a patsy, or was that really a valid result and evidence of their excellence? And if it was, will people subsequently stop dismissing our destruction of that Other Spanish Team?)

This final isn't about Liga vs Prem. It's about Barca vs Man United. They don't have many common opponents this season, league-wise. Liverpool has more experience with Liga sides than anyone else this year. They struggled with Atletico in the group stages, right? We destroyed Atletico 6-1 at home, then lost a mistake-filled encounter by one goal at their home. Liverpool hung 4 goals on that Other Spanish Team by 4 goals in Champions League. We just hung 6 goals on them. And Liverpool is (still) battling for the title in the Prem.

So where would Barca be? Who knows, right?

It's why league vs league dismissals can't have real validity, barring a round-robin tourney between said leagues.

Being truely unbiased i would have to say that United are so far ahead of Barca in terms of football that it is almost a mismatch. The Spanish Premier league is average at best at the moment (look at the teams behind Barca) thats how Barca have managed to get this reputation of being a great footballing team.

However, cups aren't always won by the best teams and i can see that barca have a 'cup swagger' and seem destined to win this.

United are coming through a bad spell which they were lucky to survive (Porto, Liverpool, Fulhum). If both teams were fully fit and on form United could humiliate Barca!!

Here's what I know: United barely got by us over two legs last season, when CRonaldo was playing out of his mind. It still took a Zambrotta giveaway and one hell of a strike from Scholes to put us away.

And we were shit last year. We finished in third place with 67 points behind an aged superstar an a still-immature Messi, who did lateral curlicues in front of your defense, to no real effect. Henry was still finding his way, the defense was horrid.

The final over two legs was 1-0.

This year, Messi is more mature, and he even passes the ball. Iniesta is full grown this year, and Xavi is better than ever. And Henry, the only one who gave your lads any trouble in that second leg, is in rare form at present (assuming he plays).

We'll be without Abidal, Marquez and Alves. Abidal is a loss. But Sylvinho (who will most likely play) doesn't give up fouls, which means fewer set pieces. My right back choice would be Puyol, with Caceres in the middle.

I like what we have there. Chelsea came at us with Lampard, Ballack and Essien in the midfield. I have a lot of respect for your midfield, but if those three couldn't outplay us decisively, I just don't see it happening in the Final.

Some are saying it's going to be a cakewalk, that we don't have a chance. I disagree. As I see it, both sides have gamebreakers, Rooney and Ronaldo for you, Messi and Iniesta for us. Eto'o and Berbatov will kind of cancel each other out on the offensive ledger for both sides, I think.

Which means what? I'm predicting a tight, tight match, with us having lots of possession (as usual) and your lads looking to hit us on the counter. If Ronaldo is allowed to run riot, we're doomed. But I think that with The Yaya back in his midfield home, that just isn't going to happen, since he has midfield-to-sideline range.

I honestly don't know what will happen. I could even see it going to penalties, if I'm trying to wear my neutral hat. I do know that we're going to have a lot harder time if Henry isn't available.

Can't wait.

Man utd will win the trophy.It will be 2-0 in favour of the Red devils,courtesy from Rooney and Park.And they will shade tears to see Giggs and Ferdinand lifting the big trophy.
Posted from uganda

"U needed ronaldo to pull one out of his ass to save you on that one."

"I loathe everything manchester united more than I loathe explosive diarrhea."

"Messi is one of the only players in world football that doesn't fall down like a ton of bricks every time he is touched..."

This explains it all perfectly. I hope barca the best as I hate manchester united for the arrogant cheating bastards that are and thoroughly enjoy the (general) lack of diving and such from barca. Yes chelsea shouldve had at least one penalty, but they deserved the loss for knocking out my beloved Juventus. ;)

PS chris, I thought the same thing when manUre played inter, but I have nothing against barca.

I am sick to death of the generalisation occuring on this website. Get it through your head people, not everyone who follows the EPL / la liga are arrogant, or possess a certain opinion. Everyone has their own opinion. Stop all this f*ing prejudice.

United should win it but after seeing the whole Chelsea scenario I suspect it might be a uphill battle for them because of another element of the game **cough**

Jack....of course it goes both ways, but I am not the one coming here screaming that Chelsea are cheats. Dave started out by calling Barcelona cheats, i was merely pointing out the hypocrisy in his statement. All players, in all teams, in all leagues do this sort of thing. Some worse than others, but most do it to a degree. It shameful and it is something i hope is wiped out. There is nothing that annoys me more than seeing Alves rolling around on the ground like he has been shot. It does him no favors and it does our team no favors. In Drogba though, Chelsea has one of the worlds biggest divers, his reputation precedes him (hence all the denied penalties), and for a Chelsea fan to say we cheat is just absurd. If you are going to call that sort of thing cheating, then Chelsea do it as much, if not more. Certainly more over these two legs.

As for reactions to refereeing decisions, i already said in my post that it was understandable. We reacted to the ref in the first, you reacted in the second. The refs for both games were a joke, both games could have been completely different with decent refs and it is a tragedy. Thats the way it is though. Managers will always complain when referees officiate like this, perfectly understandable, but Chelsea were not robbed of anything. You want to point the finger, point it squarely at Drogba (who in both legs failed to take his chances). Or maybe Hiddink who didnt even try to play football when we were down to 10 away from home. Last week I was much more furious at Eto'o, Bojan and Hleb for not taking their chances than the ref for not giving a penalty or not sending off Ballack.

I am hoping for a nil-nil draw with LOTS of injuries. ;)

The two sides I hate the most in football on the biggest stage. YECH.

Platini won it already

Hilal, how you can seriously sit there and say what you just said is a testament to the blinding arrogance of Barcelona fans. Of course our players reacting harshly and it was reprehensible. But look at what your players -- even your coach -- said after the first leg. That's classless as well.
Then look at the actions of one Dani Alves over two legs. It goes both ways.

Barcelona can't win; their defense is in tatters. No abidal, marquez, or daniel alves; that's 3 of their best 4 defenders.

@Dave

WOW....so Barca are cheats....and Chelsea are what? Honest? Respectable? Please, now your just making a fool of yourself. Go watch the game again and count how many times Chelsea players (who are much bigger and stronger than Barca players) throw themselves to the ground and roll around like little girls (Drogba and Ballack esp). Then watch Messi, Iniesta and Xavi, being pushed and kicked, by players twice their size doing as much as they can to stay on their feet. Go count the number of dives. I dare you because it will expose your clear delusions.

Some of you EPL fans. I mean it is beyond ridiculous at times. You want to try and blame the ref, fine, even though you have no reason to, but saying WE are the cheats. Jesus. And i thought i had heard it all.

Messi is one of the only attacking players in world football that doesn't go down like a tonne of bricks every time he is touched and you have the audacity to compare him to the likes of Ronaldo. I mean really, there is bitter and then there is just plain stupid.

I'd like Man U to win... if just to see the happy faces of Ji Sung Park, Evra and Tevez ^_^

And yes, I am bitter as hell.

I loathe everything that is Manchester United more than I loathe explosive diarrhea. However, even that group of smug bastards becomes admirable compared with the blatant cheats at Barcelona. How they have garnered a reputation as the saviors a football truly shows the power of the bandwagon effect. Pretty football, my ass. Messi may show more modesty off the pitch, but he's just as much of a cheat as CR7.

Barcelona wins the Tevez v. Messi challenge.

"Barcelona can;t hang with United, they could barely get by Chelsea"

LOOOOOOOOOOL. Yeah cos Porto of all teams didnt give you any trouble at all did they mate. We almost got knocked out by one of the strongest teams in the Europe, you almost got knocked out by Porto. That was supposed to be an easy draw, one of the easiest probably. U needed Ronaldo to pull one out of his ass to save you on that one. lol. English fans, such misguided arrogance....it would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

HAHAHA. Man utd fans sound a lot like Chelsea fans prior to last nights game. Its ok though, i prefer it that way. Madrid were sure they would beat us at home, Chelsea were sure they would beat us at home. Now Utd are sure they will beat us, lets see. If we do win though, all you EPL fans will having nothing but shame to keep you company because we would have done it against the odds; We had by far the tougher route to the final. Weakened team against Chelsea, 2nd leg away, down to 10 (unfairly), playing badly and yet they still couldn't beat us. Now we will face a full strength Utd without 3, maybe even 4 regular starters. If we do win, and it will be a tall order, then really you Utd fans will have to go home with your tail in between your legs, because you wouldn't even be getting beaten by a full strength Barca.

United, hands down.

If Man United play the way they did against Arsenal they'll be set to lift the cup again. Man U a solid team in almost every aspect of their game weather its defense or offense. Its not the most talented team that wins Championships its the healthiest, Fletcher though wrongly booked is easily replaceable with a multitude of others waiting to take his spot and with Barca losing 3 of their starting defenders and Thierry Henry still quiestionable I dont think Barca can make it.

Barcelona can;t hang with United, they could barely get by Chelsea. Nothing but a United win. Liverpool are the only European team to trouble Man U at the moment. Barca's defence is weak and playing without both fullbacks, whose attacking runs fee up the likes of Messi et al will allow United to stifle them. As has been said above, Man U are no Chelsea when it comes to attacking football either - they have too much for Barcelona.

Barca, but what else is this soci going to say?

@aleks. Lucky? And the Essien goal wasn't lucky? I think that both were crazy-ass strikes from distance that beat two keepers on their games.

I'm so worried about this one. I'd be a lot more comfortable if Marquez weren't injured. As it is, we'll probably see a back line of Puyol/Pique/Caceres/Sylvinho, because Man U doesn't really have a bruiser like Drogba to raise hell.

This means that The Yaya returns to the midfield, which makes Xavi's life easier, which gives us a chance.

Still don't know about Henry's fitness. If Henry is in, 3-2 Barca. If Henry isn't in, we'll find a way somehow (I hope). :D

I'm just glad that the two best footballing sides in the world are matched up. I hope we're as close to full-strength as we can get.

Barca are too soft, both in a physical sense and in regards to defense. Chelsea screwed up, they were far better except when it came to finishing. I think United will win a close game in regulation time.

Barça will win, but I'm not sure if my heart can survive another game like the one against Chelsea. We already tasted ManU last year, and we know it's not going to be easy. WHAT A MATCH IT WILL BE! I hope we will score soon, opening the sardines' can, and then relax the muscles and start the show.

united have better defending than chelsea. and many more attacking options. going up against vidic will have messi crying for penalties by minute 12.

united 3 - 1 barca

I think it's destinied that Barca will win, that's why they were so lucky against Chelsea. Against Man U they will lift their game even though without alves and abidal.