CL Final

[KK77]

Name the 5 players who have played for both clubs.

Mark Hughes
Pique
Jordi Cruyff
Henrik Larsson
Lauarent Blanc

[NeilMcD]

YOu been reading the BBC website then.

[DeLorean]

Good question. I cheated and looked up the answer so I won't give any away for whoever wants to go about it the right way. All very getable on reflection though.

[eamo1]

Someone said Barca didnt score against Utd last year,true.The reason they didnt score is because Man Utd parked the bus at the Camp Nou in the first leg and after they scored in the second leg they double parked the bus inside their own area.This is a one off game and so i think Man Utd will be less inclined to do it tonight and so Barca should have more freedom.I am a Barca fan,they'd be my second fave team behind Galway Utd and im pretty confident they will win.

[lionelhutz]

Barca to win 2-1 in normal time with Xavi and Iniesta to teach Carrick and Andersen a lesson in midfield play

[old git]

Someone said Barca didnt score against Utd last year,true.The reason they didnt score is because Man Utd parked the bus at the Camp Nou in the first leg and after they scored in the second leg they double parked the bus inside their own area.This is a one off game and so i think Man Utd will be less inclined to do it tonight and so Barca should have more freedom.I am a Barca fan,they'd be my second fave team behind Galway Utd and im pretty confident they will win.

jesus galway must have some team if barcelona only your second fav team

[old git]

Barca to win 2-1 in normal time with Xavi and Iniesta to teach Carrick and Andersen a lesson in midfield play

think anderson will be more intrested in trying to stop xavi & iniesta playing lovely football going forward both teams have an amount of goalscoring talent so hopefully we get a good game a lot could depend on messi v evra / vidic/ferdinand v eto clash and ronaldo may also run riot against barcelona backline ... would agree on your 2-1 prediction but not sure to who yet could be a great game if somebody scores an early goal

[eirebhoy]

Jesus I love watching Iniesta. He seems to pass the ball before it even gets to him it's that quick.

[Umberside]

Time to bring on Tevez I think.

[Ciprian Marica]

Bloody camera is a mile away!

[Umberside]

I don't like the stadium in the way that the fans are so far away from the pitch. Doesn't look very good on camera.

[old git]

[QUOTE=old git;1168254]iniesta man of the match tonight... rte panel raving about messi but for me iniesta was the star man for barcelona ... utd midfield non existant , ronaldo / rooney vanished as game went on and in the end utd had only 1 shot on target in first 10 mins
barcelona a joy to watch but i also think utd made it a bit easier for them by standing off and letting them play football and never really got at barcelona so called suspect defence ... utd need a iniesta / xavi type midfielder as soon as possible :ball watched game on utv and the commetators were still hopeful of utd getting a result at 2-0 down with five mins to go. QUOTE]

[old git]

just watched medal presentation anybody else think michel platini was absolutly delighted to be presenting winners medals to barcelona players looked like he wanted to mount messi boy he must really hate the english leagues / teams

[Newryrep]

What are the odds of Barca winning 5-0?
I can see it happening.
It's about time somebody steam-rollled Man U in Europe.

Realistically though, I don't think Man U can defend as well as Chelsea did (for most of the 2 semi-legs) and thus I believe Barca are more likely to score. However, Man U are more of a threat themselves on the counter than Chelsea, so they can bang a few in themselves against what is a shaky Barca defence.

Fascinating isn't it. But I have to say, Barca aren't THAT bad at the back. It amuses me fellas like Dunphy slating the likes of Puyol saying he can't play at this level. Well I would refer Mr.Dunphy to Puyol's trophy cabinet thanks very much (for club and country).

I think Barca will score early and ultimately win by 2 clear golas.

And for the record, John O'Shea is better than you think. He gets harsh criticism in this country. Ask him to show you his trophy cabinet!

You dont know next week lottery ticket numbers do you ?

[sligoman]

Not a great game imo, mainly because there was only one team on the pitch really. Delighted for Barcelona, well deserved.

[Stuttgart88]

Anyone think Ferguson lost out big time to a managerial rookie?

Without most of a first choice back 4 Barca trusted their technique and deservedly won quite easily.

If Ferguson had trusted United's key strengths - constantly asking questions of the opposition defence, constantly getting the ball in dangerous areas and feverishly trying to regain possession when they lose it - I think they'd have been more competitive. Instead I think he was cagey - exchange jabs with Barcelona and see what develops. Wrong call.

I was very impressed by how Barcelona played without the ball. Very disciplined structurally - classic 2 banks of 4 type stuff. Credit to Guardiala for instilling that discipline in what is a very attack minded team.

I like Carrick and the way he plays but he's not a patch on Xabi and Iniesta is a sheer joy to watch. Carrick is very good but not anywhere near the top table.

Puyol's antic's were only blot on a good Barcelona win for me.

[Umberside]

just watched medal presentation anybody else think michel platini was absolutly delighted to be presenting winners medals to barcelona players looked like he wanted to mount messi boy he must really hate the english leagues / teams

I noticed that too, hugging nearly all of them except for Sylvinho, Gudjohnsen and Henry, who have played for Premier League clubs and obviously a few other players as well.

[old git]

Anyone think Ferguson lost out big time to a managerial rookie?

Without most of a first choice back 4 Barca trusted their technique and deservedly won quite easily.

If Ferguson had trusted United's key strengths - constantly asking questions of the opposition defence, constantly getting the ball in dangerous areas and feverishly trying to regain possession when they lose it - I think they'd have been more competitive. Instead I think he was cagey - exchange jabs with Barcelona and see what develops. Wrong call.

I was very impressed by how Barcelona played without the ball. Very disciplined structurally - classic 2 banks of 4 type stuff. Credit to Guardialo for instilling that discipline in what is a very attack minded team.

I like Carrick and the way he plays but he's not a patch on Xabi and Iniesta is a sheer joy to watch. Carrick is very good but not anywhere near the top table.

Puyol's antic's were only blot on a good Barcelona win for me.

xabi / iniesta controlled game hardly let utd get a chance to get a back four ... when barcelona had the ball they usually found another player and utd gave it away to easy when they finaly had ball to many attempts at long diagonal passes out to wings ... like rooney as a player but thought it was one of his worst games in a utd shirt .... as for berbatov don't even think he broke into a sweat when he came on but credit to barcelona they were the better team all over the pitch...

[eirebhoy]

If Ferguson had trusted United's key strengths - constantly asking questions of the opposition defence, constantly getting the ball in dangerous areas and feverishly trying to regain possession when they lose it - I think they'd have been more competitive. Instead I think he was cagey - exchange jabs with Barcelona and see what develops. Wrong call.

The problem is though with Fletcher and Hargreaves unavailable they just don't have the players to do that. Try to match Barca and you'll certainly be beaten. Giggs and Carrick in particular are not going to hassle Barca in midfield.

Iniesta said this week that training at Barca as a kid they were constantly told to:
"Receive, pass, offer, receive, pass, offer"

Can you imagine a player of Iniesta's ability playing in England? He'd have been stuck on the wing and told to beat players at every opportunity.

[NeilMcD]

Yeah Barca deserved to win and it was a pity the game was so one sided and that the Irishman ended up with a losers medal howerver it was a joy to watch Xavi Iniesta and Messi. Midfied won the day. Dunphy is a muppet saying Man Utd are a shambles. 3 league titles in a row and 2 Champions Leagues in a row and they are in shambles.