Barcelona Dominates Manchester United to Win UEFA Champions League

Posted May 27, 2009 5:21PM By Michael Cardillo (RSS feed)

Filed Under: European Soccer, English Premier League, Soccer, UEFA Champions League, La Liga (Spain)

Watching the 2009 Champions League final unfold a sense of déjà vu washed over me. In a lot of ways it was like watching the final of Euro 2008 all over again. Instead of Spain defeating Germany 1-0 last June, Wednesday it was Barcelona defeating Manchester United 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Once again in a big match, the Spanish way of soccer -- namely quick, precise passing -- took precedence. And again it was the twin engine of Andres Iniesta and Xavi pulling the strings in the midfield. Just as Germany found it nearly impossible to win the ball back once down 1-0 last year in Austria, Manchester United found how difficult it was hold possession against the pinpoint passing of the Spanish midfielders.

The win gave Barcelona a treble, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. The club's win also gave Spain the most overall Champions League titles with 12, one better than both England and Italy.

Wednesday it took some time for Barcelona to get going. In fact, Manchester United -- through Cristiano Ronaldo -- came out firing inside the first five minutes. Ronaldo gave United its best chance on a second-minute free kick that Barca keeper Victor Valdes couldn't handle cleanly. Yet Ji-Sung Park was late to the rebound and United couldn't convert.

In the 10th minute Iniesta initiated Barcelona's first attack and it proved to be the difference. Iniesta raced up the field untouched and laid off a pass to Samuel Eto'o on the right side of the box. Eto'o essentially juked United defender Nemanja Vidic out of his pants and fired a ball inside the near post past Edwin van der Sar.

Once Barcelona went ahead it was pretty much lights out for Manchester United. The Red Devils could barely possess the ball. At halftime Sir Alex Ferguson brought on Carlos Tevez and later Dmitar Berbatov, but it was no matter as they couldn't trouble Barcelona's makeshift back line.