Barcelona what happened?

Barcelona, mes que un club. (More than a club) This phrase is emblazoned upon the Camp Nou and ties together the players, fans, executive, city, and Catalonia. Barcelona have represented what a football club should be. They play attractive winning football and have an excellent youth academy programme. Until 5 years ago they had nothing on their uniforms except for their logo until they reached a deal to pay Unicef to put the Unicef logo on their kits. In my mind this was a big snub to the millions of dollars of potential sponsorship dollars and a challenge to other clubs to do the same. There were a few other clubs that adopted charities on their kit, but there was no revolution. Barcelona were alone amongst the big clubs again giving the feeling that they truly were more than a club.

Last month there were four match ups between Real Madrid & Barcelona across 3 competitions. As you know by in large the football public was disappointed in what we received. There were a few moments of brilliance that delighted us, but largely overshadowed by general nastiness (on and off the field) and a lot more play acting than we are used to seeing. I am well aware that there is a lot of fake injuries in football today, and I am not going to pretend that this is limited to one club, country, or league. However when you are being mentioned as potentially one of the greatest sides in the history of the game, then you should be able to get past your arch rivals without resorting to faking head injuries in the hopes of getting an opponent sent off. I know that there are worse offenders etc etc, all I am saying is that with the eyes of the football world all on Barcelona they didn't impress, in fact they embarrassed.

The champions league final is still to come, with Barcelona getting a chance to redeem itself with a beautiful performance at Wembley, but another aspect of the club is gone forever. Barcelona unveiled their uniform for next season, no longer is Unicef across the front. It has been replaced by the Qatar Foundation. The Qatar Foundation paid 125M pounds to have their name on Barcelona's shirts for the next 5 seasons. So now they are just like every other club in football. To me it seems that football as well as Barcelona have lost something. I know that in the new financial world money is scarce and the money will no doubt ensure that they can continue to pay inflated transfer fees and wages to remain competitive at the highest level. With a sponsor on their kit, they have joined the rest of the football world as a club. They are still a great club, but they are mes que un club no more.

Thoughts on the Champions League Final

United came out flying for the first 8 minutes and Barcelona looked a little lost, for the next 82 minutes Barcelona were in absolute total control.

I think that Park was definitely the man of the match for United - he was the only player in white that was putting in any effort. If he was a step quicker (or had longer legs) and could jump higher (or was taller) he would have had two goals, which leads me to believe that Crouch would have scored twice...

I don't have a man of the match for Barcelona - It was a victory for teamwork everyone worked hard and made good passes, without a doubt a great display from the best team in the world.

What I didn't like, 3 dives When Ronaldo leapt at Pique to draw a yellow from Pique, When Iniesta collapsed at the top of box to draw a free kick, it was disgraceful and when Puyol dove when Ronaldo got the ball.

I was surprised that throughout the match United kept attacking Puyol, in the lead up to the match there was a lot of talk about whether or not Sylvinho could deal with the pace but he was never tested.

I thought that Evra was playing too central and Barcelona kept having plenty of space on the right. Though I did think that Ferguson made the right move in bringing on Tevez at half time and moving Rooney to the right to have a go at Sylvinho, unfortunately these moves ended up not having an impact on Barcelona's domination.

United passing was poor, but Barcelona fiercely attacked loose balls, by the second half they had stopped being 50/50s and started being Barcelona possessions.

I think that Ferguson should have taken Ronaldo off after his aerial challenge with Puyol in the 62 min, his head was out of the game. After the Messi's goal Rooney seemed to stop running all together it was a disappointing lack of effort. United seemed to not have any stomach for the comeback.

Barcelona dominated the match so thoroughly that I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear about some food poisoning scandal etc to try to explain why United looked so slow out there.

I also have to mention that the dummy by Henry in the 50somethingth minute was one of the best that I have ever seen.

And as Kristian Jack pointed out in his blog if you were a football fan you watched the match with a smile on your face as Barcelona put on a wonderful display of the beautiful game.

Champions League Final

Are you ready for some football!?

Today is the biggest club match in the World. Luckily for football fans we have arguably the two best teams in the World competing in the final, the English Champions Manchester United and the Spanish Champions Barcelona. Both teams have players suspended for the final, with United missing midfielder Fletcher and Barcelona without both of their regular full backs Alves & Abidal. It is certain to be a great game. If you would like to read more about the build up to the final then I suggest you check out The Canadian Stretford End where Sam has done a lot more research into this final than I have. If you are looking for more then why don't you head over to the BBC live text which has been running since I woke up this morning. There are also a lot of articles that you can find links to from The Score's Footy Blog.

My prediction is for a 3-2 Barcelona Victory, Sam at the Canadian Stretford End predicted 3-0 for United. What are your predictions?