As we prepare for the mouth watering clash between Manchester United and Barcelona, let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the last time the two sides met in a competitive fixture.
The setting was perfect, a Champions League final that pitted the league champions from Spain against the English Champions led by the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson. The Catalans were led by the excellent Pep Guardiola and in their ranks were the best trio in world football at the time consisting of Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez and the enigmatic Lionel Messi. Wembley Stadium was the venue.
Barcelona were the dominant side early on and could have taken bar for very nice saves from Edwin Van Der Sar and wayward finishing from their forwards. They eventually scored when Xavi Hernandez found Pedro with a smart ball to coolly stroke the ball past the helpless van Der Sar.
Manchester United replied on the stroke of half time when Wayne Rooney blasted the ball into the roof of the net from a neat pass from the ever green Ryan Giggs.
The second half is one that Manchester United fans will not want to recall as Barcelona ran rings around them to the point of submission. They could not get a hold of the ball an ten minutes after the restart, Lionel Messi did this…
Pep Guardiola’s side put the icing on the cake with a brilliantly taken David Villa goal to end any United resistance and ensure that the Catalans won their second Champions League crown in 3 years.
In the end it was a very comfortable win for the Spanish giants, even Sir Alex agreed to this. Towards the end of the match, this is what he had been reduced to..
Here are the full match highlights…