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| Barcelona took all the spoils last time the 2 sides met |
For S.A.F's men, a chance to show that even when they may not have the star-studed sides of yesteryear, they can still compete with the very best and be consistent. Which we all know they have been especially at home in the league. 18 wins and 1 draw is quite the record, one which not even the all conquering catalan side can currently match.
But thats exactly the point here. United have been weak away from OT while barca haven't away from the camp nou. The location for the final, wembley provides an away stadium for both clubs so it should be very interesting to see how it pans out! People are arguing that wembley being in UK does act like more of a home to the red devils. One thing is for certain though, it is anticipated to be one of the greatest matches ever seen!
TEAM NEWS:
Okay so to team news now and the sides are very predictable. Barcelona are gonna line up something like this; valdes in goal, alves, puyol(*captain*) pique and abidal in defence. Busquets behind xavi and iniesta in midfield. Pedro, villa and messi up front!
United will be; van der sar in goal, rafael, ferdinand, vidic(*captain*) and evra in defence. Fletcher, giggs in midfield with park and valencia running down the flanks. Rooney playing 'in the hole' behind hernandez!
MIDFIELD BATTLE:
This match will pretty much be won and lost in midfield. From barca's pov, they need to have iniesta or xavi free to control the tempo of the game which they do so well. If both of these 2 isn't in space messi tends to drop very deep to recieve the ball as he did in the match against real. Pepe and alonso did to a very good job of holding down barca's two pivots in midfield and so messi was forced to drop deep to keep the play alive. If man united want to control this match they need to do exactly the same but with more fluidity. My guess is park will be used in more of a central role due to his never dying stamina and will most probably be right in between iniesta and xavi to pick up and loose balls or just stay with the runners. This may mean giggs will be given more of a free role to roam about the pitch.
The main concern for barca will be how to deal with united's no.10. Wayne rooney who has rediscovered his form and seems to now be flourishing in his new found role behind the central striker. If busquets is set to man-mark rooney then 1 of either giggs or park will always be free in midfield to recieve the ball when united are in possession and also, wayne rooney is also one of the most difficult players to man-mark so it will be interesting to see how that battles affect the game!
WING PLAY:
Both sides have very attack minded full backs. Alves' ability to get forward has been both praised and criticized. He provides a lot of assists from down the right and is very dangerous going forward but also leaves a huge gap in defense which can be exploited very efficiently be a counter attacking side like manchester untied. Although it is probable that just like the match against real, where alves was completely pinned back by the forward runs of di maria, he will be forced back once again by either rooney or park running down uniteds left hand side! Also expect abidal to have one of the toughest nights of his lives against valencia. The ecuadorian international has been in magnificent form since his return from injury and abidal certainly has a very tough task to contain him. One though he can accomplish when on his game. His recent return from a tumor removal operation will be a key factor in how well he plays though one can expect united to dominate that part of the pitch
Barcelona arent really fans of wing play, concentrating most of their attacks down the center. Both the wingers, messi and pedro love to come inside on their stronger feet and have a strike at goal. The main problem for united will be pedro runnnig at rafael. The full back's ability to loose his cool has been seen quite a few times and although he can be at times brilliant, like in last years match against bayern where he didn let ribery move even, he has a tendency for the odd mistimed tackle and going down to 10 men is really something you dont want against a club like barcelona!
WHAT WILL HAPPEN
If united can find a way to contain barca's midfield and hit them hard on the counter-attack, they will definitely be able to get a result out of this match. Hernandez and rooneys pace down the center will be a problem for barcelona who dont really have the fastest defenders around. If not then expect barcelona to take complete control of proceedings and inturn the final result. Whatever happens though, a great match can be expected with plenty on show from some of the worlds best players and the two best teams out there battling it out for european glory which now really does seem bigger than the world cup even!
