*Official* Champions League Final Match Thread - Teams & Win or Lose, We're still Champions

Originally Posted by Sandman

The depressing thing is Barca will probably go and add Fabregas to their squad this summer.

He'd be on the £#%&!ing bench for 70% of the season

And to think people try to compare Arsenal to Barca

Originally Posted by Sandman

The depressing thing is Barca will probably go and add Fabregas to their squad this summer.

Hard to see where he'd get a game

I cant be the only feeling non-devastated? Even 09 felt like hell.

Probably because of the 19th title and all that, but this doesnt feel half as bad as most big losses.

Weird feeling 2 hours after a CL Final loss!

Originally Posted by Sandman

The depressing thing is Barca will probably go and add Fabregas to their squad this summer.

Hard to see how anybody could improve their team right now tbh - they're *that* good.

Being outclassed twice in two years is still pretty £#%&!ing hard to take, though

Fergie on SSN now.

Originally Posted by dunk

Originally Posted by Lok

Fergie on SSN now.

Missed it, what did he say?

Originally Posted by dunk

Are we friends too Dunk??

United, I £#%&!ing love you.

All the scousers giving me shit tonight, is there anything more satisfying than shoving number 19 down their throat?

Originally Posted by dunk

I'll take winning the league and coming 2nd to Barca in the CL every season tbh.

I'll never sit back and accept 2nd place.

We're United and we should be aiming for the best, though it's not going to be easy given the competition and the current owners.

Originally Posted by Speckled Sod

I cant be the only feeling non-devastated? Even 09 felt like hell.

Probably because of the 19th title and all that, but this doesnt feel half as bad as most big losses.

Weird feeling 2 hours after a CL Final loss!

The difference is that Utd went into that game with the best squad they have ever had and as strange as it may seem now, pretty clear favourites.

Watching this Barca side over the last 3 years has made it obvious that they are the best team in the world, and getting to the final with a team in transition was a real acheivement. Not many of us would have made Utd favourites this time around.

Originally Posted by dunk

Missed it, what did he say?

He blamed Phelan.

Originally Posted by dunk

Missed it, what did he say?

Pretty much what Neville said.

They were the better team. We didn't deal with Messi.

Talked about success going in cycles and said it's Barca's turn.

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

Hard to see how anybody could improve their team right now tbh - they're *that* good.

Being outclassed twice in two years is still pretty £#%&!ing hard to take, though

And we were outclassed, let nobody kid you that if a had played instead of b we would have done any better, they murdered us from about the 10th minute like they did in Rome, no disgrace though they are a truly great side.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson also denied Dimitar Berbatov left the ground early, claiming the Bulgarian was "in the dressing room"

Sir Alex Ferguson admitting: "They [Barcelona] mesmerise you with their passing. We never controlled Messi... but many teams over the last couple of season could say that. Barcelona are the best team we have ever faced - no-one has ever given us a hiding like that. Our challenge now is to get better and better. Next season we may improve even more."

Originally Posted by John Blazini

Are we friends too Dunk??

United, I £#%&!ing love you.

All the scousers giving me shit tonight, is there anything more satisfying than shoving number 19 down their throat?

Course

Originally Posted by Liu Jian

I'll never sit back and accept 2nd place.

We're United and we should be aiming for the best, though it's not going to be easy given the competition and the current owners.

Sometimes you have to. You can strive to improve, but you have to accept that there is pretty much no combination of players we could buy, regardless of funds, that would enable us to play 'the United way' against that and win. We can try though, but funds won't be the issue, neither City or Madrid will get anywhere near them either for the forseeable.

I feel absolutely gutted tbh

Yes the best side on the night won the game. No arguments, but I still feel like shit.

It was a very strange game. I went mental when Rooney equalised, but as soon as they kicked off I couldn't wait for half-time. Which is unusual because when United equalise in a game you don't want the whistle to ever come.
It merely put off the inevitable. At least we had a goal to cheer - a moment to savour.

All week...all 2 weeks really. Counting down the days, daydreaming about the game.
It's so £#%&!ing demoralising.

It feels like we'll never win the £#%&!er again after Rome & tonight

I thought Rooney was very good. He looked the only player capable of making anything happen, but unfortunately Carrick, Giggs, Park & co. were so busy chasing shadows that they were too knackered to support him. Chico was isolated all game. Hardly had a kick.

£#%&!ing hell, I can't be £#%&!ing doing with any of this shit ever again

I don't mind losing. we did well to make the final really and barca are a great team. no shame in the result.

however, they played exactly how anyone would have predicted. no plan b. don't need one. we played exactly how one might have predicted if asked to predict how united would lose the game. fergie has learned absolutely nothing.

we were careless with the ball, tried too many passes or moves that had a low percentage of success and stood off the central midfield when we weren't chasing shadows. all of their goals were poor defensively - evra and vidic getting pulled out of position for the first, standing off messi when he was the only player in the middle with four defenders (and vds made a pathetic attempt to save) and then two players failing to clear for the third.

barca are good and we made them look good.

where was the fight? the pride? the unexpected? aside from berbs not being there, I mean.

I feel sorry for rooney. he even had fergie shouting at him for not following stupid orders.

it's all very well to say we were simply beaten by the better team, but we might as well have not bothered. there was no glory in that defeat. we just accepted being second best. the time to do that is after the game, not during it.

despite all that i thought we acquitted ourselves better than last time. we got sorted though. their movement is quite extraordinary and we couldn't live with it throughout. a shame as we really showed a glimpse of what we were capable of early on, but when they settled it was all laid to waste. we were too concerned with keeping our shape to the point where we became static. as the game went on we found ourselves retreating to try and hold the space, which only gave them licence to push forward - at times they were advancing 10 or 20 yards without a challenge, and we were driven back to the point at which we started dropping errors and it became fatal.

i said a couple of weeks ago that we needed a free man in midfield to basically track the space that arises from others pressing, and i stand by that. as it was, our defence and midfield contracted to the point where there was no viable link to the attack, and with them getting amongst us it became increasingly difficult to play our way out of trouble. i love pea but i think at times his presence up top encourages us to give in to the long ball, and that's partly because his link-up play isn't yet good enough to fit into a more fluid attack.

still, all credit to barca - in spite of the rose-tinted nonsense surrounding them, they are unquestionably a great side and deserved it tonight. our run to the final this year has been incredibly efficient and disciplined and was a fine achievement in itself, even if we were found wanting at the end. but everyone knows that the body of this united team needs reshaped, and it will be; tonight shows that there are still challenges out there, and i can't wait to see what fergie's got planned.

Originally Posted by dunk

Course



Sometimes you have to. You can strive to improve, but you have to accept that there is pretty much no combination of players we could buy, regardless of funds, that would enable us to play 'the United way' against that and win. We can try though, but funds won't be the issue, neither City or Madrid will get anywhere near them either for the forseeable.

How do you know unless you try??

And funds won't be a problem? It's a huge problem when you're losing £50m+ a year on interest and consultancy fees.