Barçelona put in a sublime performance to take their fourth European Cup by beating Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley . Pedro, Messi and Villa were on target to ensure the team repeated the 1992 Wembley success.The first half , Barça dominate much more than the scoreline might suggest with Rooney pegging back Pedro’s opener very much against the run of play. Even so, the first 10 minutes of the game recalled the 2006 final with United coming out of the blocks the stronger, which Barça answered with some solid defending and a gradual development of their trademark possession football. Valdes showed his worth early on with a punch out when Rooney closed in on a Van der Saar clearance.
27 min 53 min 69min
Despite the Barça domination though, a quick move between Giggs and Rooney saw the England centre forward hit home an equaliser on 34 minutes. That goal just seemed to push the Barça players to even greater control and they had a number of chances to take the lead again before the break, including a great set piece move that nearly undid the English defence.
If the first half was dominated by Barça, then the second was an even more one sided affair as two great goals on 53 and 69 minutes gave Guardiola’s team a well deserved 3-1 lead. Messi hit home a wonderful strike from outside the box to culminate a lovely team move for the second goal and Villa hit a beautiful curling shot home for the third. It wasn’t just those moments of magic that were doing for United though, it was the almost total control that Barça were showing that was silencing the Manchester fans and leaving their team helpless to respond to Guardiola’s men’s domination
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