Your 2009 UEFA Champions League Winners Are… Barcelona
By: Daryl | May 27th, 2009
(CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)
I know we’ve done our fair share of lauding Barcelona on The Offside recently, and I know that has annoyed a couple of people. So if anyone doesn’t want to read any more of the same I recommend clicking away now.
As you should know by now (if not then where have you been?) it finished Barcelona 2-0 Man Utd in Rome. Here are the goals…
With the game just ten minutes old, Samuel Eto’o turned Nemanja Vidic inside out and toe-poked past van der Sar:
And then in the 70th minute Messi scored. With his head. Past van der Sar (who’s about 10.5″ taller I think):
(vids via TVGolo)
All the pre-match talk was about Barcelona’s creaky defence. But it was Vidic and Ferdinand who looked suspect. This game made it a little harder to make the case for those two as the best central defensive pairing in the world. In contrast, Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol were man-mountains at the back.
But it was midfield where Barcelona really lost it. Ably assisted by Busquets, Xavi and Iniesta absolutely ran the show in midfield. I was keeping an eye on Xavis’ passing stats (vie UEFA’s MatchCentre thingy) throughout the game, and the numbers tell you all you need to know. Xavi completed 66 out of 71 passes for a 93% completion rate, with Iniesta just behind (56/65 so 86%).
Xavi not only made the most passes and completed the most passes, he also did more running than anyone else on the pitch by covering 11,369 metres. So pretty hard to find an alternative Man of the Match (although Pique got a mention in the LiveBlog).
Man Utd’s plan was obviously to try and contain Barcelona, as evidenced by playing hardworkers Rooney and Park on the flanks. But that basically backfired and allowed Barcelona a little too much possession while neutering Utd’s usual attacking verve. By the time Fergie switched things around it was all too late.
And so Barcelona are European Champions, netting Pep Guardiola an historic treble (first Spanish team to take Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey) in his debut season. Best of all, they did it by playing beautiful beautiful football and with a fair share of homegrown players in the team. No wonder Michel Platini looked so happy while handing out the winners’ medals.
So congratulations to Barcelona, the very worthy winners of the 2009 Champions League.
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Tags: 2-0, Barcelona, champions, Champions League, Champions League Final, Leo Messi, Man Utd, Samuel Etoo, World Football, World SoccerSubscribe
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Comments
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the game wasn’t won by barca, it was lost by united, esp. evra, vidic, anderson and giggs who was abysmal.
iniesta was absolute quality, i’ll give you that. xavi was pretty good. but messi and puyol were a disgrace, little diving pricks, just like ronaldo.
well done barcelona. you beat a substandard united who haven’t really been on their game for months.
Posted from
United Kingdom
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See Simon? A great Xavi pass did kill Man Unt after all…
Posted from
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Simon= typical manure fan unwilling to give credit. did you like messi’s goal? me too.
Posted from
United States -
Minus the first thirteen minutes or so, this game was all Barcelona all the time.
The only thing Manyoo has to happy about today that it wasn’t 3 or 4 nil.
Posted from
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Simon: Any other excuses? I’ll help you out. Vidic had a chipped tooth. Obviously playing with such a pain the mouth produced mediocre football.
CRon was clearly paid by Real Madrid to stink it up so he could be sold in the summer. Damn that Perez, such a sneaky–but cunning–rat! A clever way to win CRon.
uhh what else? Fergie had the flu (might have been swine!) van der sar forgot his contact lenses… uhhh Rooney’s water was spiked.
Get creative!
——
Rant aside, the trophy was very deserved. Most of the Barca players had the game of their lives. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Puyol, etc. Even Sylvi was out there tearing up the ManU offense.
Posted from
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I laughed for a good while after Messi scored his goal…not only did he head it past Van der Sar, but Rio freakin’ Ferdinand was the one who was marking him, who was at least a foot taller than him. Rather classic.
ManU definitely dominated the opening ten minutes, but that first beautiful goal killed their momentum. Had their chances, but the Barca defense was a force to be reckoned with.
Most entertaining final I’ve seen in a while. Congrats Barca!
Posted from
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And I declare Xavi the man of every match Barcelona ever play. Such an incredibly graceful player. His percentages say it all.
Posted from
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Barca owned United in the second half.
CR7 no where to be found thanks to a great job done by Puyol!Posted from
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Simon… Are you serious?
Barca were without Alves and Abidal, they’ve lost there last couple league games since winning the league. Are you really gonna say that ManU was substandard?
If anything you should be blaming SAF for sending out the lineup that he did. He had Tevez and Berbatov at his disposal but instead he decided to play that really really smart formation. Then when he finally realized the should’ve played the regular united system it was already over.
Get some class and recognize that Barca played well and United just couldn’t deal with it.
Posted from
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Coming from one who is still reeling emotionally over Iniesta’s beatifully bullshit goal at Stamford Bridge, well-done to Barca. Of course, they have been over-praised–hyperbole is the name of the game in sports journalism–but they certainly deserved the cup based upon their outstanding form all season (but not based upon their incredibly lucky victory against Chelsea!)
Most importantly, I hope this will finally tame down the ego-caressing of Manchester United in the English press. That team is good, but not best ever United squad good. Come on. Guus’ tactics > Sir Alex’s any day.
Posted from
United States -
Not to jump on Simon, but every team that’s been beaten by Barça has had the same excuse. Why not find the common denominator? The reason all these teams play badly against Barça is because Barça controls the game. They are THAT good.
¡Visca Barça!
Posted from
United States -
Manchester United defintely were sub standard tonight even terrible.
Barcelona are a good team but they played us in the same style that Liverpool played us a few months ago and Liverpools result was 4-1. A much bigger result than 2-0.
Without Owen Hargreaves and Wes Brown(both out for the whole season) United have had difficult dealing with counter attacking sides and retaining the ball in the midfield.
Barca and Manchester United are probably the 2 best teams in the world at the moment(Chelsea deserves a mention too when they get it together again) so Barca and United will be meeting again without a doubt.
I think there might be a Barca and United rivalry building but it should be a good one because Pep and Ferguson really expect each other a lot and that respect seems to trickle down to the fans as well.
Good job guys, enjoy your victory and keep in mind we’re coming for you next year lol
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Daryl, Rob, et al.–the Live Blog was outstanding, as befitting (in the words of that most erudite of pundits, Jamie Redknapp of a “top, top champion.” Though my opinions of Iniesta and Xavi were high already, they leaped bounds with today’s peformances–United didn’t have a chance once they got going.
Next year will be very interesting, depending on how the transfer market pans out. Barca will be excellent, and even the silly money Florentino Perez will surely throw at Real Madrid’s problems won’t suffice (though Huntelaar is terrifying). One figures Inter will improve in Mourinho’s second season, and won’t have too great a challenge as their great rivals are both in transition and seem as if their time remains a year or two down the road.
England is another story entirely–United, though extremely talented and deep, likely will not look the same next season and will likely face a fierce challenge from both Liverpool and Chelsea, who are both racing against the ticking time bomb of talent that is Arsenal (I’d say it’s two more years before they take off fully).
Can’t wait for next season already! I’ll be sure to follow the inevitable transfer drama, but Barca deserve a few days in the sun at least as they join the pantheon of treble winners. (Should have thought of that before I started writing…)
Posted from
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Xavi and Iniesta stole the show at the Euros with Spain, and now they proved they are the best midfield duo again in club football as well. Two guys I am very happy for, love to watch them play!
Posted from
United States -
Que viva el Barcelonismo cabrones, que viva!
Posted from
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plz tel me i do’not found this match Bar v/s M United uefa chimpion leauge final.
Posted from
Australia -
hats off to ManU for a good game but Barcelona deserved to win, full control of the midfield and Puyol shutting down CR7 out wide.
maybe our win against Chelsea was pure luck…I’m okay with that, every champion team has luck on their side at some point in the tournamentPosted from
United States -
As a long-standing Real Madrid fan, it hurts to admit the obvious: Barcelona was, by miles, technically superior last night, Barcelona thoroughly deserve the treble, and Barcelona is clearly the best club in the world right now. Messi, Iniesta and Xavi were brilliant last night. It’s good that the team that plays beautiful, entertaining and technical football won. Manchester United were outplayed and outclassed – except for Ronaldo (who looked defiant to the end), the Manchester United players looked confused and obviously couldn’t figure out Barcelona. Congratulations to Barcelona.
Posted from
Philippines -
does this make chelsea the best team in europe?
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Ferdinand and o’shea as usual were a pair of donkeys at the back. Rooney. Out of position again. Park on the pitch??? Only reason i can think of is he sells shirts in the far east.
Fergie is a legend. But put out the worst possible team. Wromg formation and devoid of any tactics. All in all a shabby performance. Shame on Man UPosted from
Belgium -
Although I thought Vidic was initially the culprit on the first goal, on watching the vids above, I sit most of the blame squarely with Anderson. Xavi (was it?) just glided as the third man into the space and past his half hearted effort to block (and he was the defensive midfielder!) which opened up the space for Eto’o away from Vidic. Even Carrick continued his run and at least attempted to block the final shot, while Anderson stopped his jog before even making it into the penalty area.
On the second goal , ManU’s left side failed twice. Once before the video starts, when a flowing move was killed by a poor pass, and then again when Evra’s cleared all of 15 feet to the Barca player. Rio tooka gamble (you see him glance over his shoulder at Messi) and it bit him big time. Great cross, great finish.
Barca were the better side for a lot of the game, thanks to ManU’s wasteful passing especially after the first goal where they were shocked to be behind. What we lacked in midfield could not be made up for in defence, and they looked under the pace, except maybe O Shea who kept Henry quiet.
I have to say that Berbatov was great in his short stint. Coming back to collect balls from midfield, maintaining possession, and hitting incisive and accurate passes. More than could be said for Tevez who’s “chase you down” tactics were not of any use against a team with so many good ball distributors, and he barely got a sniff in when turning and running into traffic.
For me, Puyol was strong but not impressive (and is an incredibly whiney diver for a supposed captain and leader), with Ronaldo being kept out of the game after a blistering start by their midfield rather than their backs. But I was impressed by their left side combination (Sylvinho and ?) who really did shut dwn the Channel to Rooney for most of the match.
Barca were strong, Machester were below par, and the best team on the day definitely won.
Posted from
United States -
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It was very digusting.Had it not been for the first goal of Eto’o, all happened wouldn’t have happened.
Damn luck!Posted from
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ur right philip, great analysis!
Posted from
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as a man,manchester United remainS 2be Man 4Universal `NO LONGER HOW MUCH U DIS IT’it is fergie 4success.
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