Edwin van der Sar is hanging up his boots. The Manchester United goalkeeper, 40, has played his last game for the club, and unfortunately (for him and his teammates) he didn't manage to celebrate the end of his career with a third European Cup. He cut a fairly morose figure after the match, especially as he may have contributed to the deserved loss by not stopping Lionel Messi's winner:
2011 Champions League Final: Edwin Van Der Sar Discusses Last Game Of Career
[I played] one game too many I think, it is not nice to lose of course. They had the better chances and we made one or two mistakes and they punish you.
He did defend himself on Messi’s goal, however, claiming that there was nothing he could have done about it:
I thought I was positioned well. He tends to curl it into the far post but he didn’t. They are very good, you have to try and score the first goal and we didn’t do that. It is not always a given, I thank everyone for the memories.
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.
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