UEFA Champions League Final Preview – Manchester United versus Barcelona: Rooney versus Messi (Part 2)
Following the first part of this preview series which focused on Manchester United’ history in the UEFA Champions League, now it is turn to shed some light on Barcelona’s endeavours in the UEFA Champions League....
Barcelona’s history in the UEFA Champions League
Taking from Johann Cruyff’s Ajax and their ideology of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Total-c40747 football which is a perfect brand of attacking football, Barcelona is also one of the European clubs just like Manchester United who have made had more UEFA Champions
League success in the last decade from 2000-2010 than in the previous century. Barcelona’s main philosophy has evolved over the years but it has been perfected under their present manager, Joseph Pep Guardiola.
Barcelona’s first ever UEFA Champions League final appearance came in the 2006 UEFA Champions League final when they faced off against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 in Paris. Under the guidance of Frank Rijkaard, Barcelona blitzed several European greats
in on their way to the final against Arsenal. On their route to their first final since Barcelona’s defeat to A.C Milan in the 1994 European Cup final, Barcelona defeated http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 in the round of sixteen by an aggregate score line of three goals to two before
meeting Benfica in the quarterfinals.
After besting Benfica in the quarters, Barcelona came up against A.C Milan in the semi-finals. Against a Milan side which was a sight to behold due to the presence of Genaro Gattuso, Andrei Shevchenko and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paulo-c29431 Maldini. Nonetheless,
Barcelona led by their Brazilian midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ronaldinho-c31733 sealed a place in the final of the 2006 UEFA Champions League by scoring a one nil aggregate win over the Rossoneri. In the final match, Barcelona got off to a flying start with some help of the referee
after http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jens-Lehmann-c18297 was sent off for a late tackle on Samuel Eto’.
Barcelona dominated the match from thereon in but Arsenal drew first blood with Sol Campbell’s header in the first half before Eto’ equalized in the second half and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Juliano-Belletti-c19932 gave Barcelona their second European Cup win
with a winner in the 81st minute. As the defending champions, the Catalan giants lost out to eventual finalists http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 when the Reds defeated Frank Rijkaard’s men on away goals.
In the 2007-2008 UEFA Champions League, Barcelona impressed once again but they fell in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals due to a fine http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Paul-Scholes-c29394 goal for Manchester United. United went onto win the competition but Barcelona
struck back in the 2008-2009 UEFA Champions League when they defeated Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals before blitzing past Chelsea in the semis thanks to a late away goal by Andres Iniesta. In the final, Barcelona met Manchester United and demolished the
Red Devils through a Samuel Eto’ strike and a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Lionel-Messi-c22296 header.
As defending champions in the 2009-2010 UEFA Champions league, Barcelona were favourites to become the first team to retain its Champions League trophy but they lost out to Jose Mourinho’s defensive http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan team in the semi-finals.
Mourinho’s Inter went onto win the competition as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604 relinquished their European title.
In the next part of this preview feature series, we shall take a look at Manchester United’s as well as Barcelona’s path to the final of the 2010-2011 UEFA Champions League....
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