Manchester United Vs. FC Barcelona, Champions League Final: Barcelona Earn 4th European Crown

There was a pretty important soccer match this weekend, as you may have heard. It was wonderfully played and a deserving champion was crowned. Some viewers of Minnesota’s Fox 9, though, were apparently forced to share the Champions League experience with storm coverage.

Understandably, soccer fans were not happy about this. They called the TV station and complained. They sent them angry messages on Twitter and Facebook. And they were told to knock it off ... on air. IMSoccer found this video that illustrates the incident:

Soccer fans in the United States have long had to deal with networks covering matches as if every viewer has no idea how the sport works. That had been changing recently though. As more and more Americans became fans of the sport and followed it regularly there was less and less of a need to pander to the “casual fan.” Instead, networks could cover the sport how they covered any other sport. They could be smart, insightful and treat their audience as if they had seen a soccer match before.

Things actually started brightly for FOX. They opened with voice-overs from Vinnie Jones and Pau Gasol, both of whom know the sport and were accompanied by dramatic music and incredible visuals of London and the two teams. If nothing else, the opening made it 100% clear that FOX put a lot of effort into their coverage of the world’s biggest sporting event of the year.

Messi’s goal on Saturday gave him 12 for the competition, tying him with Ruud van Nistelrooy for the most in any single Champions League. For all of the greats to play in the world’s biggest club competition, none has ever scored more in one tournament than Messi. His 12 goals may not be as amazing as van Nistelrooy’s considering that when the Dutchman did it in 2002-2003 his team only made it to the quarterfinals so he played three fewer matches than Messi, but Messi is still out of this world. Just another incredible record for the diminutive Argentine who may be the most incredible to ever step on a football pitch.

But it’s always refreshing when fans remember how different things were before their clubs became huge, and Adi-Oula Sebastian has done just that in their celebratory thread, reminding everyone that it’s only been nineteen years since Barcelona’s first win, and now they’re up to four:

For news, opinion, and feature articles leading up to the UEFA Champions League final, bookmark this StoryStream and check it often. We’ll have new posts right here throughout the week, during the game, and after the game. For more on the entire world of football, check out SB Nation Soccer. Manchester United fans should head over to The Busby Babe, while Barcelona fans should check out Barca Blaugranes.

He did defend himself on Messi’s goal, however, claiming that there was nothing he could have done about it:

Van der Sar won’t be remembered for this match - instead he’ll be cherished as the most-capped player in Dutch history as well as one of the true goalkeeping greats of Manchester United. His replacement, David de Gea, has a lot to live up to.

Obviously with Barcelona’s reputation as a soul-destroying machine of footballing perfection the best team in the world, Guardiola’s services are in high demand. He could get paid a lot of money to manage elsewhere, and if he leaves Barcelona at the peak of their dominance his reputation as one of the best managers in the world is secure. Where else would he go? Who knows? But him leaving Barcelona sure sounds more likely now than it did a few days ago.

For news, opinion, and feature articles leading up to the UEFA Champions League final, bookmark this StoryStream and check it often. We’ll have new posts right here throughout the week, during the game, and after the game. For more on the entire world of footy, check out SB Nation Soccer. Manchester United fans should head over to The Busby Babe, while Barcelona fans should check out Barca Blaugranes.

If you’re a journalist, asking stupid questions of Sir Alex Ferguson is a risky proposition at the best of times. When he’s in a bad mood, things get much, much worse. And moods don’t get much worse than seeing your team lose 3-1 in the Champions League final. I’m slightly confused as to why whoever asked the Manchester United manager which Barcelona player he’d most like to sign with infinite funds at his disposal, but he certainly deserved the response he got:

For news, opinion, and feature articles leading up to the UEFA Champions League final, bookmark this StoryStream and check it often. We’ll have new posts right here throughout the week, during the game, and after the game. For more on the entire world of footy, check out SB Nation Soccer. Manchester United fans should head over to The Busby Babe, while Barcelona fans should check out Barca Blaugranes.

This game’s going to end 3-1, and yep, it has. That’s it - Barcelona are champions of Europe once more. Nobody can say it wasn’t well deserved. Manchester United, an excellent team, were simply taken to the cleaners by an unstoppable Barcelona. Really impressive stuff from the Catalans. Congratulations are in order.

David Villa may have only scored one goal in his last 16 matches before the UEFA Champions League final, but he has himself a goal in the biggest match of the year and it is one that likely seals up the Champions League title for Barcelona. It was a beauty of a goal and fitting for a player who came in and made such an impact early in the season in just his first season with the club. The Spaniard got the ball just outside the box and exquisitely curled the ball past Edwin van der Sar for the nail in Manchester United’s coffin.

It’s actually a real shame that van der Sar let that one in - it was possibly saveable and he’d just performed a heroic stop against Dani Alves at the near post. No sooner had Barcelona retrieved the ball, however, and they’d scored.2-1 in the 57th minute, and time is now ticking away.

Barcelona had been completely dominating Manchester United for more than 15 minutes and it paid off when Pedro scored to put the Catalans on top. The Red Devils weren’t going to go away though and they answered just a few minutes later through who else, but Wayne Rooney. A give-and-go between Rooney and the ageless Ryan Giggs set Rooney up and he made no mistake with his finish to level the match at 1-1. The only question is whether or not Giggs was onside when Rooney played him in.

Surprisingly, there’s no injury time, and after forty-five minutes referee Viktor Kassai blows his whistle and ends the first half. It’s been phenomenal so far, and we can only hope the second is just as good. We go into the break at Wembley with the teams level at 1-1.

Is this game ever going to slow down? It’s been played at a hundred miles an hour for the first forty minutes and is showing absolutely no signs of stopping. Unlike many previous Champions League finals, it’s also been very very good as well. Nothing boring yet!

Lionel Messi is the best footballer in the world. He’s so good, in fact, that he creates goals for his teammates even when he doesn’t touch the ball during a move. Such is his ability and his legend that he is always in the heads of defenders, even when he isn’t making any sort of play on the ball or even a play to get the ball. His movement draws defenders out of position, and that’s exactly what created the opening goal of the UEFA Champions League final, scored by Pedro, that put Barcelona up 1-0 in the first half.

Messi is always listed on the lineup as a right forward, but he rarely plays that position. Barcelona’s lineup is actually an asymmetrical one, as Messi plays as a No. 10 while Pedro operates much more as a winger. Daniel Alves pushes up to provide width on the right, much more than his counterpart on the left, Eric Abidal. This creates problems for the defense, much like the ones created on the goal.

Gorgeous goal, that, and that’s the perfect response as far as Sir Alex Ferguson is concerned. Certain parts of the stadium go dead silent, and the rest of the crowd goes wild. How will Barcelona respond to wasting their lead? Xavi tries to fix the problem immediately, but can only shoot well over Edwin van der Sar’s crossbar from range.

Andres Iniesta had the ball deep in the midfield, finding the forward run of a curiously unmarked Xavi Hernandez. Unsurprisingly giving he had so much time to pick out a pass, Xavi played an inch-perfect ball to Pedro cutting down the right, and a neat near post finish was duly dispatched past a helpless (and motionless) Edwin van der Sar. That was a beautiful goal, and it doesn’t look like Barcelona are going to stop at one. Manchester United are in deep, deep trouble now.