Wow! FC Barcelona win the Champions League 2-0

: Barça's victory celebrated (From FC Barcelona.com)

What a fantastic evening! I must admit, I had my doubts… especially during the first 10 minutes. But Barça proved that they deserved the treble they've won. The game was, in my opinion, a thoroughly exciting affair. Manchester United played extremely well but failed to capitalise off the chances they had. The much-maligned Valdes also made sure that the shots on goal weren't… goals.

The two goals, from Eto'o and Messi, were both heart stoppers – and both were loaded with individual significance.

I can't really be bothered to write more now (I've sent an email to my Australian sisters, who each received a Messi shirt for Christmas), and frankly I'm in the mood for relaxing.

We couldn't have asked for more from what has been, arguably, the finest Barça team ever fielded.

Bona nit!

May 27, 2009 | Football

Comments

2 Responses to “Wow! FC Barcelona win the Champions League 2-0”

Graeme on May 27th, 2009 10:58 pm

It's almost a problem for Guardiola, winning everything in his first season – now he has to repeat it. I didn't think it was that great a game, it never really caught fire and I thought that Barça seemed to promise more than they delivered – although they didn't have to do any more than they did. They got their first goal in the only period of the game that they didn't control. I believe next year's final is going to be in Madrid.

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Rab on May 29th, 2009 6:58 pm

I kind of agree with Graeme: the game being reported on by the press (both in Spain and in the UK) seems to have been a different one to the game we watched at home. My wife is a huge football fan (West of Scotland girl…) and she also thinks that neither team played to their full potential: it was not the sparkling final we were led to believe we would have. Man U were subdued and they paid for it. I don’t think that we played 100% of our game either but we played a bit better than them, specially in the second half.
The combination of Xavi and Iniesta is magical. I hope they can win the CL again and make it three.

I thought Man U were all over us in the first 10m, then we score the first chance and they never recovered properly. As time went on, we settled more and more and in the second half we could have scored more (but did not, which could have been costly) and were lucky to score the second when we did. I always thought that if Man U had got a goal in, they would eventually win the game, even after Messi’s goal until they squandered a corner 2min from the end.

Maybe I am an old-fashioned Barça fan, always worried by what could go wrong and hands in my head, unable to enjoy the game even when we win. I don’t get this ultra-optimism, and unbelievable over the top hype about the team in the media and by my friends. Maybe it is because I live abroad I can see the flaws beyond the media build up. The football is amazing, of course, even better than with Cruyff, the style we want it and the players fighting hard for the ball and making tackles, and Laporta and Guardiola are a dream team off the pitch too, but sometimes I worry about the over the top ultra-positive coverage. And then we have the usual suspects who were shouting “Laporta dimissió” only a few months ago. Where are these leeches now?

In my experience, Barça’s winning cycles tend to be shorter than Real Madrid’s and they end up with huge upheaval for the club. I hope that Guardiola and the Board keep their feet in the ground. Lack of self-criticism and modesty have never done us any good and although we won this year, we should never never forget the huge upsets caused by the lost finals of 1986 and 1994.

Rant over: Visca el Barça!

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