BY JAKE LEWIS – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
During the holiday season, Fan Fuel bloggers are looking back at their favourite sporting moment from 2011.
Mine is the crowning of Champions League winner Barcelona as one of the greatest football teams ever.
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Barcelona were almost unanimously viewed as the world’s best, long before winning the Champions League in 2011, but the victory over Manchester United provided the exclamation mark that, I felt, drew a line under this magnificent teams reputation!
The Catalan masters had beaten Manchester United two years earlier in the CL Final, but having lost to Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan a year later at the semi-final stage, there was a feeling that they were not invincible, and that the right tactics and players, could trip them up.
So with the “solution” to beating them now widely known, the suspicion was that a strong team like Manchester United, could upset the odds and bring Barcelona back down to Earth. I tuned in to watch the Champions League final on the May 28, from Wembley Stadium in London, anticipating a closely fought contest. For the first ten minutes it looked like a fair match-up, with United closing down Barcelona and sharing possession evenly – Barcelona forced backward and United creating a couple of early breaks. It appeared we would have a genuine contest, but it didn’t last long.
Two incidents changed the game for me. Messi and Xavi both did one of their many trademark tricks, first Ryan Giggs was made to look pedestrian by a Messi feint, then Xavi turned Michael Carrick inside out. Suddenly the United players took a step back from the Barcelona team, offering them more space, possibly in an attempt to prevent the embarrassment of being “done” by a trick from the little geniuses, but in reality to try to contain them.
It was a terrible mistake.
This gave Barcelona the space they needed to start to play their game. United had been successful by pressing, but now they stopped doing that and conceded the ball to the Catalans, dropping back and standing off. Game over.
Barcelona dominated play for the remainder of the first half, scoring on 27 minutes, through Pedro from a scything attack, though Wayne Rooney pegged them back with a well taken strike on 35 mins (a shot which proved to be United’s only one on target). Man United stopped pressing, began to look ragged and conceded possession carelessly as they attempted to move the ball forward too quickly with ill placed long passes. Even a half time team talk from the redoubtable Sir Alex Ferguson, did nothing to alter the contest.
The eventual scoreline of 3-1, with Messi and Villa both adding magnificent goals in the second period was, if anything, flattering to the English Champions, as the domination of Barcelona in all departments was so overwhelming. Xavi made more successful passes than the entire United team, and Barcelona had 12 shots on target to Manchesters one.
As a crowning moment, few will be as defining as this one. Nobody can deny the quality of opposition, and the manner of victory. Barcelona can take their place amongst the greatest Football teams ever, and May 28, 2011, was their coronation.