Barcelona vs Manchester United: Player Ratings

the champions!!

Barcelona are, once again, the champions of Europe. After winning their 3^rd European Championship Trophy on 2009 defeating Manchester United, Barcelona tonight won their 4^th title beating the English giants once more. These two teams had ruled over the European football scene throughout the year like never before and this Barcelona, touted as the best ever by many, rolled over the “Red Devils” in a way that was not expected out of a Champions League final. With Barcelona playing their regular play the credit of the win goes to the whole team and also to the Manchester United players, who failed to live up to the expectation.

Coach Rating

Pep Guardiola (8): Excelled in his both off-field and on-field job. Continuous statements regarding greatness of Alex Ferguson and his players kept his players on ground and eager to prove their point. Preferred to use the centre of the ground to attack with Xavi and Iniesta more involved as against the regular tactics of using the width by Pedro and Villa. Manchester United were surprised by that and left a lot of spaces for his players which helped his job.

Alex Ferguson (6): The responsibility of failure of the team should and will go mainly on the manager and Alex Ferguson has to take that. He wanted to play football and win and it will difficult for the critics to point what else could be done by him that could have helped him achieve that. It looks now that Mourinho’s ultra-defensive technique is better, at least that gives good results (or a respectable result!)

future? thrown into the air

Player Ratings

Barcelona:

Victor Valdes (7): Was not required do much. But whenever called for did his job. A decent outing but its not the fault of a goalkeeper if the opponent team is not able to shoot at the goal. Made a decent save when Rooney got a long ball in the first half and in the second half punched away the ball just ahead of Chicharito’s head. Was not in a position to do anything in the Rooney’s goal.

Dani Alves (6.5): Was not as involved in the attack as he normally is. May be coach Pep Guardiola wanted to use his speed to recover from the counter attacks. Made a few cutting runs from the right when the Manchester United defence was busy handling the threat of Messi, Villa, Pedro, Iniesta and Xavi. He could have done better in the through balls and anyone in the world is expected to better than what he did when he tried to make a cross. Made a professional foul to earn a yellow card to stop what might have been a dangerous counter attack.

Pique celebrates taking away the net

Gerrard Pique (6.5): Like the other Barcelona defenders, Piqué too was not much involved in the game. However, took a few good headers to stop the long balls played by Manchester United searching for Rooney and Hernandez. Used his height well and stopped some dangerous balls.

Javier Mascherano (5.5): Was not much visible in the game other than when he made a run along the right wing to the Manchester United defence. Was not the brightest defender on the ground but did his job whenever called for.

Eric Abidal (7): First of all, kudos to this super human, who was fighting against liver tumour just a few months ago. While everyone thought his season was over with that, he made a miraculous comeback and dominated the left side of Barcelona half tonight. Did not have any trouble to deal with whatever Manchester United brought for him. Took part in the attack occasionally combining with Pedro well. Could have marked Giggs better in the Manchester United goal, but in his defence his attempt to put Giggs in an offside trap was successful thought the assistant referee missed it.

the man of rock lifting the cup!

Sergio Busquets (6): Was not visible in the game until he was hit by Valencia’s knee at late second half when the camera spotted him. Was involved in a few movements with Xavi and Iniesta but again you have to do that if you are standing at the centre of the Barcelona midfield. To his credit, did not dive or clutch his face in writhing pain unless really hurt.

Xavi (9): When you see Xavi play and think nobody can do better than him in what he doeas then you forget that he is going to play the next game as well. This man simply controlled everything that was happening on the ground. Whether in defence or attack, Xavi was present everywhere. Was involved in every move Barcelona created with his great control on the ball and awesome passing. Wanted to keep the ball with him more than usual to take the pressure off his teammates and was very successful in that. With his involvement made the world class midfield of Giggs, Carrick, Park and Valencia look ineffective and useless with total control on the game. Put a great through ball for Pedro in the first goal and picked out Villa unmarked for the third goal. Created a few more nice passes which could not be utilised.

Iniesta (8): Not really the best performance from the midfield genius, but he supported Xavi throughout the game. Whenever any Barca had the ball, Iniesta was present unmarked besides him to get the ball. Used his skills well to get past the defenders and used the width of the pitch well combining with Pedro on the left wing. Assisted the Messi goal, but the credit of that goes mainly to Argentine.

Villa (7): Finally, David Villa scored in an important match. And what a cheeky finish that was! Putting the ball the top corner with a perfectly placed shot leaving Edwin Van Der Sar gaping in disbelief. Still nowhere around his best and the goal and the through ball for Messi were the only moments where he made an impact in the game. Mostly, David Villa played on the wing and helped in keeping possession of the ball.

Messi (9): Messi was adjudged the man of the match officially by UEFA as he scored his 53^rd goal of the season with a finish past Van Der Sar from outside the box. Combined tackling by the United defence kept Messi silent for most of the first half but with his mere presence he could break open any defence. His run towards the ball made Valencia run towards him leaving Pedro unmarked in the first goal, made one of his trademark mesmerising runs into the penalty box before Xavi passed the ball for David Villa goal and beat Van Der Sar like a schoolboy with an unpredictable sudden shoot from outside the box.

man of the match!

Pedro (7): With Xavi, Messi and Iniesta dominating the midfield and creating chance after chance. Did what was necessary for him to do, to be in position to get a perfect Xavi pass and shoot it beyond Van Der Sar with a brilliant finish.

Substitutes:

Keita (5): Substituted Villa after the match was almost sealed and brought in to help in defence with his powerful tackles. Did a good job, not enough time on the pitch to have any effect on the team.

Puyol: Substituted Dani Alves late in the match and did the most generous things after the win- displaying a t-shirt saying ‘anims Miki’ in support of Real Betis player Miki Roque who is fighting cancer and let Abidal, who has already fought it, lift the trophy wearing the captains armband.

Afellay: The Dutch winger was on field for a few minutes and had a chance which was saved by Van Der Sar. May be passing it to Messi could have been a wiser decision.

Manchester United:

Van Der Sar (5.5): Claimed by the best goalkeeper in the world by many, one of the best for sure, van Der Sar, could not live upto the expectation on the final night with the ‘Red Devils’. Clearly misjudged Pedro’s shot when the far angle was being blocked by the approaching defender, could have saved Messi’s goal had he anticipated the shot at right time and let the ball slip out of his hand in an uncharacteristic way in what could be dangerous to his goal. Was not the confident goal keeper he normally is other than a brilliant save off a Xavi shot. Could have been better.

Fabio (6): Was one of the players who did his jobs right. Did not let any attack build up from his side of the pitch and occasionally joined in the attacks. Had to be substituted with an injury.

Vidic and Ferdinand (5): A lot was expected from this defensive pairing facing the best attacking side in the world now. But as the result shows, they failed in their job. Did not let the Barcelona forwards get inside the box too often but left a lot of space outside the box. Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Villa got a lot of chances to make free shoots. Though some of them were parried of the defenders or the goalkeepers, finally Messi and Villa made them pay for it. Their aerial ability was not in use more than once as Barcelona played mostly on the ground.

Evra (5): The French left back was not really sure what he had to do in the game. He was simply lost in the intricate passing by the Catalan side. David Villa or Messi got past him almost at their will. Neither was he much effective in the occasional counter attacks that united tried to create.

Park Ji Sung (5.5): The man of the big matches from Korea failed this time. Yes he did tackle well and stopped some of the Barcelona attacks but that was not his only job. When you play as a midfielder you have to get involved with the team in creating some moves to get into the opponent defence. Used his double cylinders to run all the way but could not do what was expected of him.

Carrick (4.5): Looked like Carrick and Javier Hernandez were competing to get invisible and this man surely won that as the cameras spanned around Chicharito whenever he was offside or failed to get a ball too. Just to show the people that he too was playing, made a rough, unnecessary tackle on Iniesta and earned a yellow. He was rightly substituted for Scholes, who did good enough in their game of hide and seek.

Giggs (5.5): Ryan Giggs is supposed to be one of the greatest midfielders in the world who dominates in the middles of the pitch. But what he showed tonight, people will be ashamed to call him that again. Disappointing show from the man from Wales other than involvement in the goal which could have been spoiled by himself had the assistant referee could judge him offside.

Valencia (6): If he was put on the ground by Alex Ferguson to stop Messi and other Barcelona players, he did a decent job. Made some tough tackles and kept Messi silent for most of the first half. Though could have earned a yellow in the first half itself with his tackles and dissent after the referee’s decisions. Got that in the second half and was less effective with more cautious approach. Rarely involved in any of the United attacks (however, few they were).

lonely warrior!

Rooney (7.5): Only Manchester United player who showed the urge to do something. This man alone reached the long balls, tried to play one-two with fellow teammates, made runs into the Barcelona defence and most importantly scored a goal with a beautiful finish. But he was ineffective because he could not gain much support from his underperforming teammates.

Javier Hernandez (4): This man did the exact opposite of what Rooney did. Did not show any urge to do anything. Could not reach for the long balls, failed to help in Rooney in returning his passes, did not make any single run in the defence and surely not score a goal (the only thing different from other matches). The only thing he did was getting caught offside. Flop of the match.

Substitutes:

Nani (6): Substitued Fabio at the 69^th minute and tried a bit to create some attacks but was easily taken down by Iniesta and Abidal, and Keita later in the match. His insertion weakened the United defence fuether, but that was a desperate attempt when the team was down by two goals.

Paul Scholes (5): Replaced Carrick near the end of the match. But he really did nothing different. Was mostly invisible.