United relish chance to avenge Rome reverse
Reuters - Thursday 05 May 2011, 08:02
LONDON - If Manchester United are to avenge
their defeat to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League Final
when they meet again at Wembley on May 28, the words Sir Alex
Ferguson spoke that night will have to ring true.
Barcelona outplayed United 2-0 in Rome with goals from
Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi, as United, after a bright start,
were totally overwhelmed by the Catalan giants.
After the dust had settled on one of United's worst
performances of the season, Ferguson said: "In adversity you
always move forward quicker. We're still a young team and we can
improve on that. In fairness, we were beaten by the better side.
I know what went wrong and it will not happen again."
Ferguson has never explained exactly what he thought did go
wrong, but whether United are a better team now than they were
in 2009 is a subject that will be debated every day until the
final is over.
One thing is certain, they will have to improve on the way
they played that night at Rome's Olympic Stadium to lift the
European Cup for a fourth time.
To do that against the best club side in the world, they
will have to demonstrate the kind of assured authority and
confidence they displayed on Wednesday against one of the worst
semi-finalists the Champions League has produced.
United sealed their place in this year's final by destroying
Schalke 04 4-1 at Old Trafford for a 6-1 aggregate semi-final
victory and were never seriously troubled at any time over the
two legs.
The team that secured their place at Wembley showed nine
changes from the side that won the first leg, and for the final
Ferguson could chose 10 of the eleven men who faced Barca in
2009 with only Cristiano Ronaldo of the starting line-up no
longer at the club.
There is little that Ferguson or Barca coach Pep Guardiola
do not know about each other's teams and while the game is still
more than three weeks away with domestic issues still to be
settled, the key area, as it was in 2009, will be in midfield.
Then, Barca's Xavi and Andres Iniesta totally dominated
Anderson, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs and laid the foundation
for Barca's success. Ferguson will not want that to happen
again.
PERFECT SETTING
Wembley is in many ways the perfect setting for this year's
final. Both Manchester United, in 1968 and Barcelona, in 1992,
won their first European Cups there and Ferguson believes United
will go into the game far better prepared than in any of the
previous finals he has lead them into.
Asked if there was a sense of destiny after United won the
European Cup for the first time at Wembley in 1968, Ferguson
added: "Let's hope so."
"I think it will be a fantastic final. It is some weeks
ahead and I hope we have everyone ready," he Sky Sports.
"The big advantage this time as opposed to two of our
previous finals is that we have no players missing. In '99 we
missed Roy Keane and Paul Scholes and in 2009 we missed Darren
Fletcher.
"We've got everyone available this time and that does make a
difference.
"This is the best competition in the world, all the best
teams are there. To get to the final is an achievement itself,
but to win it is the ultimate."
EVEN BETTER
Barcelona are, if anything, an even better and more rounded
team than the one that beat United in Rome to complete an
unprecedented treble of Champions League, Spanish league and cup
in Pep Guardiola's debut campaign as coach.
Striker Eto'o was offloaded and won Europe's elite club
competition with Inter Milan the following season, while the
brief experiment with Zlatan Ibrahimovic ended when Barca moved
him on to AC Milan and bought David Villa at the end of last
season.
While Villa, one of eight Barca players who won the 2010
World Cup with Spain, has been going through a barren patch in
recent weeks, his work rate is an important component of Barca's
play and he has formed a highly effective frontline alongside
World Player of the Year Lionel Messi and Pedro.
Argentina forward Messi has gone from strength to strength
since the 2009 triumph in Rome and is top scorer in this
season's edition with 11 goals, including two in the semi-final
first leg at arch rivals Real Madrid.
Xavi and Andres Iniesta provide the creative spark in
midfield, backed up by the mobile and tough-tackling Sergio
Busquets, while Gerard Pique, who spent several seasons at
United between 2004 and 2008, has been immense at centre-back.
The stage is set for a classic.