Second-half goals from Lionel Messi and David Villa ended United's challenge at Wembley and earned a fourth European title for Barça.Just as in 1992, Wembley provided the setting for a Catalan celebration as FC Barcelona turned on the style to beat Manchester United FC 3-1 and claim their fourth European crown. Barcelona were worthy winners, taking the lead through Pedro Rodríguez and responding to Wayne Rooney’s equaliser with two superb second-half strikes from Lionel Messi and David Villa.
If Barcelona’s triumph at the old Wembley broke down a barrier, this underlined the Spanish titleholders’ status as the continent’s dominant force, this third UEFA Champions League in six seasons conferring the stamp of greatness on Josep Guardiola’s side. For United, this was a sorry repeat of their Rome defeat by Barcelona two years ago. There were dancers with umbrellas on the pitch in the opening ceremony and even the simulated sounds of a storm but it was on the pitch that lightning eventually struck twice.
For a short while, it looked like things might turn out differently for the English champions. Sir Alex selected an attacking formation, resisting the temptation to pack his midfield and instead fielding both Javier Hernández and Rooney in attack. His team raced out of the starting blocks, pushing up and aiming to deny Barcelona the time and space to find their stride, and briefly the ploy worked. Barcelona looked edgy as Hernández hustled a defender into losing the ball on the edge of his area; Javier Mascherano, starting in central defence in place of Carles Puyol then failed to deal with Edwin van der Sar’s punt down the middle, forcing Valdés into urgent action to deny Rooney.
Inevitably, though, Barcelona clicked into gear, and they fashioned the first clear opening on the quarter-hour as Xavi Hernández drove in a low cross that Pedro, drifting free of Fabio, turned wide. Barcelona soon had United pinned back as more chances came. Villa flashed a shot narrowly wide before forcing a low save out of Edwin van der Sar. A superb Nemanja Vidić challenge then foiled Messi but, in the 27th minute, United were undone.
Xavi was the architect, advancing into United territory and picking out Pedro with a diagonal pass. The winger’s movement had carried him clear of Vidić on the right side of the box and he applied a cool finish, sidefooting the ball into the near corner with Van der Sar wrongfooted.
Amid the many predictions about this contest the general consensus seemed to be that United needed the first goal. Yet they responded seven minutes later with a fine equaliser, their first attempt on target. After Barcelona had lost the ball from an Abidal throw-in, Rooney surged forward on a one-two with Michael Carrick. He then slipped a pass to Ryan Giggs inside the box and met the Welshman’s return ball with a superb curled finish into the far corner.
Sir Alex Ferguson had predicted “the final of the decade” and an absorbing first half almost produced another goal when Messi drove forward and after feeding Pedro on the right, was just a whisker away from meeting the return.
United’s respite was short-lived as Barcelona resumed their control after the restart. Although Van der Sar saved from Daniel Alves, Messi restored their lead after 54 minutes. Collecting a pass from Messi, the Argentinian cut inside Patrice Evra and punished Vidić’s failure to close him down by sweeping the ball past Van der Sar from 20 metres. Messi’s subsequent explosion of emotion showed just what the goal – his first on English soil but 12th in this season’s competition – meant.
The little magician could have had more goals as Barcelona went for the kill. Van der Sar denied him with his legs before Fabio denied his back-heeled effort with a goalline block. Van der Sar, on his final appearance, offered a fitting reminder of his class with a full-length dive to foil Xavi but he had no chance with Villa’s third goal after 69 minutes. Although United stopped Messi’s surge into the box, substitute Nani lost out to Sergio Busquets who teed up the Spain striker to curl an exquisite finish into the top corner.
1Barcelona wrapped up their domestic league campaign with a comfortable 3-1 win against Malaga. Despite falling behind on the half hour mark to Fernandez’s strike, Bojan, Afellay and Bartra were able to rescue the three points for the Blaugrana to ensure their Primera Division defeats were kept to just two for the entire season.
The match opened at a snail's pace with neither side committing men forward and looking content with finding their own rhythms. Malaga were the team who began to test the goalkeeper frequently but Pinto was fortunate to not face any troubling strikes which may have worried him.
As the Catalans lacked cohesion up front, they were banking on moments of individual brilliance to grab a goal as Jeffren almost conjured up the opener midway through the first half. His venomous strike rose inches over the bar as Willy Caballero in the home side’s goal was reminded of his need to be always alert.
But it was Manuel Pellegrini’s men broke the deadlock thanks to Seba Fernandez in the 30th minute. Patient build-up by the Andalucians was rewarded as the Uruguayan striker converted Juanmi’s cushioned lay-off to give the hosts the lead.
Despite lacking their usual fluency and aura going forward, the Blaugrana were able to equalise in the 43rd minute. The tricky Bojan was felled inside the box and he duly converted the spot-kick with ease, rolling the ball into the bottom left corner.
As the half-time whistle blew, temperatures were high heading into the dressing room after the penalty but both coaches would surely have been disappointed with their men’s attempts so far.
Pep Guardiola’s men emerged from the break looking a rejuvenated outfit but they were continually frustrated by the opposition rearguard, the highlight of which saw Jeffren hitting the side-netting from a tight angle.
With their first attack of the second half, though, the home side nearly regained the advantage but Maresca headed wastefully wide from six yards after Apono delivered an inch perfect cross.
From that play, the hosts look to have turned the screw on the champions but their relentless search of a second goal almost saw them concede. Seconds after defending a Malaga corner, Barcelona should’ve went ahead but Afellay’s effort was saved well by Willy, who raced off his line.
Barcelona finally claimed their second goal of the game in the 76th minute through Afellay. The Dutchman proved more clinical on this occasion as he cut inside and curled a low shot into the far post to complete the comeback for the Catalans.
Youngster Bartra added a third goal in the 83rd minute to wrap up the win with a header directly from Dani Alves’ precise corner.
Barcelona saw out the victory to finish their league campaign on 96 points as they now prepare to complete a double next Saturday when they take on Manchester United in the Champions League final. Malaga ended their season’s affairs in ninth place for the moment until the last few matches finish up in the Primera Division.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola was a happy man despite his team failing to defeat Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday.
Daniel Alves leads the celebrations at full time
FC Barcelona have been crowned Liga champions for the third successive season, and 21st time overall, following a 1-1 draw at Levante UD.Needing a point to secure the title, Josep Guardiola's team took the lead on 28 minutes when Seydou Keita headed in a measured chip forward from Xavi Hernández. Levante, unbeaten at home since 9 January, levelled as a result of two lapses in the Azulgrana defence. Gerard Piqué failed to cut out a ball over the top and when goalkeeper Víctor Valdés tried to clear, he merely succeeded in teeing up Felipe Caicedo.
Winning the league at the Estadi Ciutat de València is nothing new for Barcelona. Under Frank Rijkaard in May 2005 the Catalan team wrapped up the title there with a 1-1 draw, Samuel Eto'o equalising in the second half.
Elsewhere, fourth-placed Villarreal CF drew 0-0 against relegated UD Almería. That result meant Valencia CF could have been confirmed as finishing third with two matches remaining if they had beaten RCD Espanyol, for whom Ernesto Galán rescued a 2-2 draw late on.
Hércules CF, meanwhile, have been relegated following a 2-2 draw with RCD Mallorca.
Barcelona re-established their eight point lead at the summit of La Liga leaving the Catalan giants just one point away from retaining the league title with three games left to play following Sunday evening's 2-0 win over fierce neighbours Espanyol. Andres Iniesta opened the scoring in the 29th minute when he capitalised on Ernesto Galan’s mistake.
The full-back’s heavy touch allowed the Barca playmaker to steal the ball and charge towards goal where his trickery created space to shoot inside the area. The Spanish World Cup hero steadied himself before powering a low drive beyond Carlos Kameni to assert Barcelona’s dominance on the tie.
Espanyol held their own until the break but the found themselves two down soon after the interval when Gerard Pique met Xavi’s corner with aplomb to double Barca’s lead.
Barcelona failed to begin in their usual fashion as Espanyol effectively denied the Blaugrana time and space on the ball in the opening exchanges. And the visitors even looked threatening on the counter-attack when Ivan Alonso and Osvaldo combined well before the latter was disposed by a recovery challenge from Javier Mascherano.
Barca did test the glove work of Kameni. The Cameroonian shot-stopper was required to get down low to beat away Pedro’s shot before Iniesta rehearsed his goal. The Spanish international turned his marker around with quick feet before he tried to curl an effort into the far post, only for Kameni to tip the shot away with a fine stop.
Espanyol responded when they showed pace on the counter attack, giving Jose Callejon a chance to find Ivan Alonso waiting in earnest to turn it home but the cross was too strong, allowing Gerard Pique to hack it clear.
Lionel Messi became more determined and when he brought a seemingly impossible ball down out of the air it seemed as if the goal was sure to come. The Argentine burst into the penalty area but could only crash a cross-cum-shot across the face of the goal.
Barcelona’s pressure eventually paid off when Ernesto Galan gifted the ball back to the opposition. Iniesta proceeded in flirting with the defender before he turned Raul Rodriguez and hammered a low drive beyond Kameni to put the home side 1-0 up.
That lead should have been doubled when David Villa burst onto Iniesta’s through ball but the Spanish striker failed to hit the target after Barca played the beautiful game at its most beautiful.
Kameni was called upon before the half-time whistle when Messi’s surge forward drew out three Espanyol defenders. The Argentine, in the hunt for the Pichichi trophy, unselfishly tapped the ball to Villa but the striker was fractionally beaten to it after a brave lunge from the opposition goalkeeper.
Barcelona’s second goal came from the most unlikely of sources soon after the break when Gerard Pique battled hard to get to Xavi’s corner ahead of his marker to thump a downward header past Kameni to double the Blaugrana’s lead.
Osvaldo attempted to revive Espanyol’s pursuit of European glory as he left Pique on his backside. The Italian stung the palms of Victor Valdes after passing the Spanish defender, and soon after spun the same man in the area but his bending effort was clung to in the air by Barca’s ‘keeper.
The game became tepid until Messi’s burst of energy won a free-kick for his side on the edge of Espanyol’s ‘D’, with the Argentine looking determined to take advantage of the set-piece.
Messi was forced to focus for two minutes as Pedro and Raul Rodriquez shared words in the wall, but it was the same wall that denied Leo the chance of scoring his 32nd goal of the season.
Barcelona continued to search for their third of the game and when Messi’s reverse pass allowed Iniesta to roll the ball across the six yard box to Villa and Pedro, it should have been buried but Rodriguez made a superb intervention to touch it over the bar.
Neither side showed much urgency in the latter stages of the game as the clock neared the 90 minutes. Eric Abidal was introduced to a rapturous applause from the Camp Nou faithful as he continued his recovery from surgery.
The win takes Barcelona to within a point of clinching their third successive La Liga title with three games left to play, the first of which is against Levante on Wednesday.
Espanyol, meanwhile, will continue their pursuit of European glory as they hope to close in on sixth placed Atletic Bilbao, and that last Europa league spot.
2010 ·Barca Community by World Cup
