Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says beating Barcelona will end criticism on his side
Sir Alex Ferguson picked up his 12th English Premier League title last weekend, which also saw his side surpassing Liverpool’s record with the 19th title. Now, Manchester United have become the most successful club in the history of
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749. However, the way they have achieved this target is not being appreciated and people still have doubts about the talents of his side.
In the ongoing 2010-11 season, things have relatively been easy for Manchester United. First, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 had a very poor spell in the middle of the season, which saw them dropping from first place to the fifth place in Premier League table. After that, Manchester
City and Arsenal failed to take the top spot and Manchester United only filled the gap because of highly inconsistent results shown by other teams. After that, United gave many chances to other teams who once again failed to overcome the leaders due to their
own problems.
During the whole season, Manchester United have shown a very poor away form. With only five victories and ten draws, the away form of Manchester United has been poorer than the four teams below them in the table. It is their home form that has made them
successful in the season, where they have only lost a couple of points, with one draw. Apart from this, Manchester United have conceded 25 away goals, which is also not up to the standards for a team relatively well known for their defence.
On the other hand, Barcelona have had an easy run in their La Liga campaign. They took the lead from Real Madrid in November 2010, and have stood firm on the top spot. Despite maintaining a close gap, Madrid never really looked threatening to Barcelona,
who kept on piling up points against other teams. In the end, it was a comfortable League victory for Barcelona, who won their third title in a row.
Apart from this, Barcelona did extremely well in Europe as well. Due to all these factors, they are being considered as favourites for the Champions League final showdown at Wembley on May 28, 2011.
However, Sir Alex Ferguson thinks that his side can produce a victory against the Catalans. Therefore, by emerging victorious his side would answer the critics who have questioned the brilliance of Manchester United’s squad. Ferguson has taken this as a
challenge and he thinks that his side will definitely respond well to the challenge.
Last time both these teams met was in the final of Champions League in 2009. At that time, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 was a part of United’s squad but the Red Devils were outrun by the Catalan giants.
This time, the team looks weaker in the absence of any reliable goal scorer. Ronaldo will be replaced by Javier Hernandez, while the presence of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Antonio-Valencia-c6345 in the centre is something promising for the Red Devils.
On the contrary, Barcelona look stronger with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 on top of his form at the moment. Beating them would be a hard task but Ferguson is a master tactician and he will definitely come up with a solid plan.
Barcelona have also been supplemented with the news that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Busquets-c33048 got away with the racism hearing undertaken by the Union of European Football Associations. They have still some matches left in La Liga, but the players are being rested.
Towards the end of this season, most of the Barca players showed signs of fatigue and exertion. Therefore, coach Josep Guardiola has ample time to get his players ready for the decisive encounter. On the other hand, Manchester United have clinched their
title as well and will also rest most of their players in their last League encounter against Blackpool.
The outcome of the match will be decided by the team playing better football on the given day. However, Barcelona hold a mental edge over United, who are underdogs for this match. An early goal, however, will make things different and this would be something
on the cards of Sir Alex Ferguson as well.
Tags: