Manchester United vs. Barcelona - The Best Team Won

Manchester United were beaten by Barcelona on Wednesday night in the Champions League final. After the first 8-9 minutes of domination from United, the Barcelona that has played scintillating football all year long showed up and won the game in style. There are a few conclusions to draw from the game:

1) This Barcelona team is the greatest team to have played football together over a full season. There might be greater teams over one single game (think Brazil 1970 but this Barca team probably has that covered too) but none over a season. I tip my hat to the best attacking team and indeed best team in the world.

2) There is no shame to lose while trying to play your own football. United tried that for much of the game and I took pride in that regardless of it being a bastardized version of Barca's play and failing to result in any goals. I took no pride in the lashing out by Vidic and Ronaldo towards the end. If things weren't bad enough already, this didn't make things better, it just drove home the feelings of loss and anger.

3) Pique should not have been sold. It is a big mistake and United will regret it even more if Ferdinand's injury troubles persist. He is past 30 and will play fewer games every season on now. Pique was the rock that Barca's defense was built around and if one watches the game again, count how many times the commentator says, "Pique clears". He has learned his art at United and gone to practice it elsewhere. A very poor piece of business.

4) United's defense as well as the midfield will have to spend a lot of time this pre-season on organization. It has been sorely lacking since March of this year and resulted in the best defence in Europe becoming one of the leakiest. Ferdinand's return hasn't changed things that much so the issue lies in drilling it in. The two goals came from poor closing down by Carrick and Anderson for the first apart from Vidic's mistake and O'Shea not covering the shortest man on the pitch (if not the stadium).

5) Where is Hargreaves?

6) Messi is without doubt the greatest player in the world. Iniesta is the greatest player at Barcelona. The two showed Ronaldo how the game is played. While the erstwhile World Player of the Year threw hissy fits, Iniesta and Messi dribbled through rash tackles and got up every time without an issue. Most importantly they pass the ball. Ronaldo doesn't. To top it all, he attempts to deflect blame from his own performance by blaming Ferguson for tactics. Fuck off Ronaldo to Madrid.

I was strangely disconnected after the game but the loss has sunk in. It is painful and I don't think I'll be able to read any football news till August. Sucks.