Barça v United

[Assassin]

Problem for him is that he always gets double marked in europe and any time he has the ball at his feet he always finds 5 defenders infront of him because Us, Chelsea and Scum all play so deep against him. Its going to be harder now with Alves out so Iniesta and Xavi are going to have to get close to Messi and work closer alongside him

Barca play neat one touch passing football, as you see in the statistics against the chavs, in both games Barca passed the ball 3 times more than the chavs. Therefore, if Messi reamains mobile rather than being too static, a player of his percieved skill should be able to elude double markers and his team mates should be able to pick him out with their neat one touch football.

Simple, no?

[Montana]

I have a feeling this could be like the great Barca Milan final in 94. Barca went in as pretty strong favourites (given the calibre of their opposition) and were comprehensively demolished by a stylish Milan side.

Scum seem very confident, overly so IMO, and I think they will be caught cold by Barca.

Agree.

I've got a feeling Barca are gonna be unstoppable on the night. Eto'o will stretch Vidic & Ferdinand just like Torres did at OT. Messi & Henry will piss on Utd's full-backs. Xavi & Iniesta will control the midfield.

Yes Barca's defence is looking a bit weak but Utd won't have enough of the ball to fully exploit it. Utd are gonna badly miss a holding player such as Hargreaves & Fletcher. Carrick, Scholes, Park, Anderson, Giggs or whoever plays in central midfield won't be up to the job against this Barca team.

Utd are due to lose a European Cup final and it will be a thrashing 4-1 to Barca.

[Neil Young]

In my world this fixture does not exist.

[Pablo]

Problem for him is that he always gets double marked in europe and any time he has the ball at his feet he always finds 5 defenders infront of him because Us, Chelsea and Scum all play so deep against him. Its going to be harder now with Alves out so Iniesta and Xavi are going to have to get close to Messi and work closer alongside him

Exactly, and more so than any other player in the world. Thats why in the 2nd leg against Chelsea they moved his position every 15 minutes to try to avoid the double man marking. Any player would suffer from that. And dww I think thats part of the reason why Xavi and Iniesta excel, they dont face that same problem, and the extra men on Messi allows them more freedom to play.

I know its tough for Messi but he has to find a way to overcome it if Barca have any chance of winning this match IMO.

[Jack D Rips]

In my world this fixture does not exist.

Can I join you? I've been looking for ways to rub tomorrow out of the calendar and not succeeding.

Your place sounds nice

[The Reverend]

Problem for him is that he always gets double marked in europe and any time he has the ball at his feet he always finds 5 defenders infront of him because Us, Chelsea and Scum all play so deep against him. Its going to be harder now with Alves out so Iniesta and Xavi are going to have to get close to Messi and work closer alongside him

To be honest, Alves has been ****e every time I've seen him this season. Certainly, against Chelsea his free-kicks and crosses were consistently bad. I don't who will replace him but it might not be bad thing to thing for Barca to play with a full-back who plays a little deeper than Alves usually does.

0-0 with Barcelona winning on pens!

[-V-]

To be honest, Alves has been ****e every time I've seen him this season. Certainly, against Chelsea his free-kicks and crosses were consistently bad. I don't who will replace him but it might not be bad thing to thing for Barca to play with a full-back who plays a little deeper than Alves usually does.

0-0 with Barcelona winning on pens!

Its not his performance thats great, its the way Alves provides Messi room to play by constantly bombing up the wing to give him support and distract the full-back

[Chrono]

****in BELIEVE!! You bunch of miserable sods

I want to, I really do but Chelsea tore them a new one in the last round.

[Joe King]

Mancs 1-0 Barca


Here’s how it will pan out:

• Barca monopolise possession from kick-off, moving the ball around sweetly. United press, chase and harry to little avail.
• United string 10 players along and in front of the edge of their box, leaving Ronaldo up on his own, largely sulking.
• ‘The new Pele’ Wayne Rooney follows Messi everywhere. The defensive wonder Rooney to become known in future as ‘the new Terry Butcher’.
• Barca pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass – making little headway beyond the edge of United’s heftily-protected box
• United enter Barca territory for the first time on 38 minutes. Ronaldo dives. Free-kick. Deflection, goal. The ball trickles into the bottom corner.
• Barca pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass pass. SOMEONE SHOOT FFS.
• Barca begin to have some shots but a series of lucky United breaks sees the ball whistle narrowly wide time and time again.
• Barca have one cleared off the line.
• United are time-wasting. 42 minutes to go.
• Dive dive dive dive dive dive dive dive.
• Ferguson is looking at his watch maniacally. 35 minutes to go.
• The game is fizzling out. Barca out of ideas.
• End. 1-0 Mancs. One of the worst finals in living memory.

So true. 'Two teams who play the game well' **** off. United are as bigger spoilers as Chelsea.

Can I join you? I've been looking for ways to rub tomorrow out of the calendar and not succeeding.

Your place sounds nice

If you like flowered carpets and the smell of mahogany spray, you will enjoy it.

[Joe King]

Half of Spain will be supporting Manchester United in Champions League

May 26, 2009 Juan Castro [Times]

There are 40 million people in Spain and at least half of them will be supporting Manchester United tomorrow. Real Madrid are the best-supported club in Spain and all their fans will be praying that Barcelona do not win.

Unfortunately, I think they are going to be disappointed because Barcelona are the best team in the world at the moment and I expect them to prove it at the Stadio Olimpico. Barcelona are worried about only two United players — Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney — but there are weaknesses in Sir Alex Ferguson’s team that Barcelona will exploit. John O’Shea will have serious problems at right back against Thierry Henry and I cannot see their defence coping with Lionel Messi and Samuel Eto’o.

United will be dangerous going forward but Barcelona know all about the threats posed by Ronaldo and Rooney. Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world — not the best, thanks to Messi — and his free kicks are sensational, but it will be difficult for those United players to get the ball because Barcelona will dominate possession.

Ronaldo may be playing in Spain for Real next season and there is a very good chance that this could be his last game for United. Florentino Pérez is hoping to become the club president again next month and he has made Ronaldo his No 2 target behind Kaká, the AC Milan and Brazil forward. It will be a big blow to United if Ronaldo leaves because they like to market themselves as the best club in the world, but they are not a big deal in Spain. Most Spaniards accept that Real are the biggest team in the world and Liverpool and Arsenal have more followers here than Ferguson’s team — Liverpool because they have so many Spanish players and Arsenal because they play the beautiful game and because of Cesc Fàbregas.

Ferguson is probably the best manager in history but Spanish football is very insular and a lot of people do not know much about his achievements. Pep Guardiola will show Ferguson respect but he will not be worried about facing such an experienced opponent. The Barcelona coach is intelligent, single-minded and he knows how to get the best out of his players.

United’s best chance of stopping Barcelona from winning is to take advantage of the absence of Rafael Márquez, Daniel Alves and Éric Abidal. Barcelona have defensive problems, but so do United. I would not want to be in O’Shea’s boots tomorrow night.

Juan Castro is the chief sports writer of Marca

[Neil Young]

If you like flowered carpets and the smell of mahogany spray, you will enjoy it.

[ELNINO 9]

only a barca win will do.......God ,united have to run out of luck very soon. they have played and won 3 european cup finals, they are due a defeat in one now.

[BrooklynRed]

My fear is that United will counter the Barca quality with physical domination in midfield. Anderson, Carrick, Park and Giggs will harry them all over the pitch, and with Yaya Toure not in his usual holding role (he'll be partnering Pique), Barca lack the presence in midfield to win the 50-50 balls and take posession from United's attack.

I can almost guarantee Barca will have a stone cold penalty waved off and United will score on the ensuing counter attack as the Barca players stare at the ref in disbelief.

Shaggy is right, it is all too predictable...

[Rigadon]

“It’s been such a **** week and a half. ‘Didn’t think it would be this bad. ‘Feel like I’m going through Kubler Ross’ five stages of grief. The overwhelming feeling at this particular moment is anger. I ****ING HATE THOSE CUNTS WITH A PASSION!”

Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballe

[Leyton388]

I will be supporting the Roma Ultras