Champions League Final: How Manchester United and Barcelona Got Here

(Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

For this year's Champions League final on May 27 in Rome, we have one of the greatest finals ever as English giant Manchester United will take on Spanish giant FC Barcelona in what will be a great cup final.

Last year, these two teams met in the Champions League semi-final, with Man Utd going to the final on a score of 1-0 on aggregate after Paul Scholes nailed a game winner against Barcelona in the second leg at Old Trafford.

During the 2007-2008 season, Manchester United won the English Premier League and Barcelona finished third in La Liga, which allowed both clubs to qualify for the Champions League in 2009.

However, Barcelona had to beat Polish team Wisła Kraków to get into the group stages, which they did by a score of 4-1 while Man Utd didn't have to do that because they are the defending champions.

Here is a recap of how both teams did in the group and knockout stages in order to go to the final.

Barcelona

In the group stage of the Champions League, Barcelona were in Group C, and the clubs that they were paired with were Sporting CP of Portugal, Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine and Basel of Switzerland.

In the group stage, Barcelona won four games and drew and loss one each as they gained 13 out of a possible 16 points, and had a plus 10 goal differential. They also finished first in the group, which got them paired with French champion Lyon in the round of 16.

While in the round of 16, Barcelona drew with Lyon 1-1 at the Stade de Gerland in the first leg and thrashed them 5-2 at the Camp Nou in the second leg, giving them a 6-3 win on aggregate, and allowed them to advance to the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, German giants and defending Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich became Barcelona's next opponent, but they were disposed of by a 4-0 score in the first leg at the Camp Nou, and had a one all draw at the Allianz Arena in the second leg, giving Barcelona a 5-1 victory on aggregate and a trip to the semi-finals.

While in the semi-finals, Barcelona got paired with Chelsea, which were the runner up to the English Premier League and the Champions League the season before to Manchester United after they beat Liverpool 7-5 on aggregate.

After a goalless draw at the Camp Nou in the first leg, Chelsea held a 1-0 lead going into stoppage time after Michael Essien's goal in the tenth minute.

However, despite being down a man, Andrés Iniesta lifted a shot past Chelsea keeper Petr Cech and controversy because of the "missed penalty calls" by referee Tom Henning Øvrebø, Barcelona advanced to the final in Rome based on away goals after a 1-1 tie on aggregate.

Manchester United

In the group stage of the Champions League, Manchester United were in Group E, and the clubs that they got paired with were Villarreal of Spain, Celtic of Scotland and Aalborg BK of Denmark.

In the group stage, Man Utd won two games and had draws in their four other games, which gave them ten out of a possible 16 points and they had a plus eight goal differential. They also finished in first in their group, which got them paired with defending Serie A Champion Inter Milan in the round of 16.

While in the first leg of the round of 16, Man Utd and Inter scored no goals at San Siro in a game United dominated in but didn't score. But in the second leg United won 2-0 at Old Trafford, giving them a 2-0 win on aggregate and a trip to the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, United got paired with Portuguese champions Porto and were involved in a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford, giving Porto the lead on away goals. However, Cristiano Ronaldo nailed a 39 yard strike in the sixth minute at the Estádio do Dragão, giving United a 1-0 lead, which they won the game by, and the series 3-2 on aggregate.

In the semi-finals, United got paired with English rival Arsenal after they beat Villarreal 4-1 on aggregate. In the first leg, United won 1-0 on a goal by John O' Shea even though they probably should have scored at least two more goals in the game.

However in the second leg, they beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium, winning the series 4-1 on aggregate and they are now in the Champions League final.

Finally, on May 27, we will have two very special teams in the final, and it will definitely provide us with a great final in Rome.

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