The road to the 6th! (Part IV) (History of all FC Barcelona Champions League wins)
In the second duel within 3 years Barcelona and Manchester United faced each other in another Champions League classic match. United have won the Premier League and Community Shield titles and were eager to win the final that they lost 2 years before.
After beating Chelsea and Manchester City to win the title in the Premier League with Dimitar Berbatov who won the Premier League top scorer title with 20 goals, the Red Devils won their group against Valencia, Rangers and Bursaspor to go to the knockout stage.
In the 1/8 Finals they faced Olympique de Marseille where they won in the second leg with 2 goals from Chicharito. Later they beat Chelsea with a total score of 3-1 after two wins. In the semi-finals thеy faced Schalke 04 and beat them with a total score of 6-1.
After selling Zlatan Ibrahimović, Touré Yaya and Thierry Henry, Barcelona were going through serious changes. They bought Spanish legend David Villa, Argentine international Javier Mascherano and young PSV talent Ibrahim Afellay.
The Catalans won La Liga 4 points in front of Real Madrid. Leo Messi scored 31 goals in La Liga and 53 goals in all competitions. Barca also won the Spanish Supercup after stunning two matches with Sevilla.
In the Champions League groups they passed Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan and Panathinaikos without losing a game. In the knockout stage they progressed after beating Arsenal. The Catalans lost the first game, but with a 3-1 win at Camp Nou they faced Shakhtar Donetsk which was an easy task. In the semi-finals they faced rival Real Madrid and after a shocking performance of Lionel Messi, Barcelona won 3-1 on aggregate.
And finally the final came. The date was 28th May. The venue was Wembley Stadium. The attendance was 87,695.
Barcelona started with Pedro, David Villa and Lionel Messi in attack. United surprisingly left out top scorer Dimitar Berbatov out of the squad which was a shocking decision by Sir Alex Ferguson. Michael Owen was on the bench and United started with Rooney behind Javier Hernández.
Barcelona started with an early goal, which was scored by Pedro in the 27th minute. A few minutes later the score was equalized by Wayne Rooney. The second half started with an amazing goal by Lionel Messi who stroke outside of the penalty area. The win was completed after a stunning kick by David Villa which threw fans in the sky. United failed to change their situation and in a second final in a row they lost against Barcelona. Messi was chosen as the Man of the Match. United finished with only 1 shot on target for the entire game and Barcelona made 12 efforts.
