Man Utd v. Barcelona: Who Will Be The Conquerors in Rome?

Another European season has come and gone, a season of fond memories, stirring matches, and brilliant melodrama. Now, at the very end we, football fans, sit here in anticipation of a majestic European final.

A final which sometimes gives football fans worldwide the pleasure of a contest of strength, skill, passion, adrenaline, and sometimes just simply plain old guts and glory.

The epitome of competitive football in this modern era.

Last season saw Manchester United triumph under the torrential downpour in Moscow, by penalties against Chelsea. 120 minutes of football were not able to separate two evenly matched sides all too familiar with eachother’s games, an honest match of football against two sides who typify the way today’s game is played. 

Yet, all football aficionados should delight in the anticipation at the fixture thrown at them, with arguably the two modern superpowers of European football, the majestic giants of Catalonia, FC Barcelona, paired against the powerhouse English champions of this season and last, reigning European champions, Manchester United.

But can we expect the glittering array of Europe’s best sides play the “joga bonito”, the beautiful game, in this final? Will it be a classic match, or another cautious, tedious, tactical game which seems to be the bane of modern football?

Can Rome, the birthplace of the cautious “catenaccio” approach to football bless us with a final to remember, and one not forgottenly mired in the defensive dourness which blights today’s game?

It’s difficult to gauge how Manchester will approach this match. The fans will eagerly expect an attacking lineup, wanting to see the sublimely unstoppable quartet of Tevez, Rooney, Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo all feature in an attacking, gung-ho, devil may care formation.

According to manager Sir Alex Ferguson, "You see the players Barcelona have got, you see the players Manchester United have got and it suggests a great final.”

“Finals, and European finals in particular, can be disappointing but I have a feeling it won't be that way next Wednesday."

But the stark reality for a final of this magnitude is that Ferguson has rarely played the above quartet in any match this season, and media speculation hints that he may in fact start with just Rooney and Ronaldo featuring in attack, with Tevez’s future at the club in doubt, and Berbatov cutting an indifferent, peripheral figure at times this season for Manchester.

Much rests on the shoulders of Rooney and Ronaldo. Rooney has been a stalwart in attack for Manchester this term, lifting the team on his own in the absence of Ronaldo from early this season.

Ronaldo, however has not had a great term by his own stratospheric standards, hampered by injury at the start of this season, and as always there are lingering question remaining over his tendency to be quiet in the big games, which is an opinion which should have been laid to rest by his excellent performance in last year’s final in Moscow, but is still raised perennially.

Ferguson’s primary aim in this match is surely not to entertain the fans, but to add another European title to his impressive coaching CV, in the hopes of again sending Manchester to the pinnacle of England and Europe, emulating last season’s successes, and placing him at the forefront of Europe’s management elite.

Much will rest on the return to the starting lineup of club talisman and captain Rio Ferdinand, pairing with the impeccable Nemanja Vidic at the centre of what most people declare as the best defence in the world.

And they must be at their solid best if Manchester are to have any chance of stopping the fluid and unassailing Barcelona attack.

The obvious strength of this current Manchester side lies in its solidity in depth in midfield, always a characteristic of Ferguson’s sides since the early 1990’s and this is yet again apparent in United’s midfield options.

Centrally, first choice players Carrick, Fletcher, Scholes, and Anderson make  an impressive list on paper to choose from. Add to this the performances of unsung hero Park out wide, and Nani slotting in when called upon, and you have a midfield unparalleled in its staying ability over the entire continent. Will this midfield contingent be up to the task of negating Barcelona’s attacking impetus?

Barcelona’s fans will simply demand that the team attack, with the club endorsing the basic philosophy that in order to win, you must score more goals than your opponents.

This decade has brought limited success with this approach in recent times, underachieving with only three domestic titles in this decade, being crowned this season as Spanish champions, and in previous years winners of La Liga (and arguably only due to the brilliance of Ronaldinho in 2005 and 2006).

In Europe, their only success this decade has been a solitary Champions League victory in 2006 against Arsenal.

Given the key absence of Barca defenders Dani Alves, Eric Abidal, and Rafa Marquez, coach Josep Guardiola will certainly look to win in attack, knowing that failure to keep Manchester pegged back in their half could be disastrous.

Barca are further weakened with the news that they will also be without the resurgent Thierry Henry in attack, and the  fitness doubts over the scorer of the late 90th minute equaliser in the second leg of the Champions league semifinal against Chelsea, Andres Iniesta.

"The injuries keep piling up and most of them seem to be in defence,” says Guardiola.

“We would love Dani, Abi and Rafa to be available on Wednesday, but they're not so others will come in and do a job.”

"It's a chance for those players and I am convinced we can compete with the guys we have available."

The pendulum certainly appears to swing in Manchester United’s favour, given the fluid attacks so typical of Barcelona’s season do not generally cope with the sheer athleticism of English opponents, an observation which one cannot ignore when revisiting the semifinal matches which pitted a strangely muted Barca against a stubborn Chelsea.

However, Barca’s midfield in itself is certainly athletic enough and dangerous still in its ability to play the simple passes required to pivot the fulcrum from defense into attack.

Iniesta,Toure and Xavi are experts in switching the momentum and controlling the pace of the game to their team’s own requirements, by short, crisp and effective passing. Iniesta, however appears to have problems shrugging off an injury, and Toure may be required to slot in again at centre back. Will Busquets be able to shoulder the responsibility since breaking through to the first team only this year?

Attacking trio Eto’o, Messi, (and the injured Henry) have, in between them, amassed a colossal 97 goals in total already this season, out of the whole Barca team’s total 156 goals.

This is a staggering goalscoring feat and a record-breaking tally, hence only the foolhardy would discount Barcelona in this match, based on their ability to find the back of the net with immeasurable ease.

So many questions are yet still to be asked of both teams, with endless possibilities for this match, and so much resting on the shoulders of some twenty-two modern day gladiators, plus the two strategists, Guardiola and Ferguson.  But one must give in philosophising and just look to the game, in the hopes that they will see a match to remember, come what may.

There is, however, a sense of inevitability with Manchester United this season, in the way they manufacture victory upon victory. In the immortal words of Rome’s very own Julius Caesar it may perhaps be Sir Alex Ferguson who will echo through the streets of Rome  the following victory chant, "Veni, vidi, vici"; I came, I saw, I conquered.