Champions league Final—My Expectations!

Expectations from the Champions League final? We aren’t even playing in the finals, are we? Didn’t UEFA knock Chelsea out of the competition in favour of their favourite sons from Catalunya?

Still, I’ll watch the Champions League final tonight, purely out of the love for football. All said and done, both Man Utd and Barcelona are great teams, and a Champions League final involving them must be a spectacle for any football fan in any corner of the world.

I do have some hopes and expectations from this final. Firstly, I want Man Utd to win it. Hard to say, but I say it, let Man Utd win it. Because they deserve it better than Barca. As we all know and have seen, Barca are champions of a weaker league when compared to Man Utd.

As all teams have rolled over to allow them play their game to their strengths, they have also got on to the moral high horse on the playing style. Whereas, Man Utd have won the league against toughest of competitions from teams like Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and even the top half teams. Man Utd plays are a more complete football team when compared to Barca.

How do I want Man Utd to win this match? I want Man Utd beat Barca by completely crushing them or by incredibly dodgy referee decisions.

Option 1: Let Man Utd completely crush Barcelona that they have nothing to say after the final. Let them teach Barca a footballing lesson in attack and tactics. For once, I want Barcelona to openly admit that they were beaten by a side and they deserved to lose. After the match, I want Platini to say that the better team won.

Option 2: Let Man Utd win through some extremely dodgy goals that would keep Barcelona crying for weeks and months. Yes, I mean it. Let the match be decided by the lone goal late in the extra time but let that goal be a penalty from a blatant dive from you-know-who. Or let there be some half a dozen clear handballs in the box by Man Utd but none of them gets called for a penalty. These things happen, you know!

The press builds this up as a Messi vs Ronaldo battle. I want Ronaldo to win this battle. I think these two players personify their teams and their philosophy. Ronaldo is a more complete player when compared to Messi. Keeping Messi quiet is not that hard. We had our right back play at left back and still made him invisible. Ronaldo is much much more consistent than Messi.

Until a couple of seasons back, Ronaldo was a choker and he’s grown immensely since then. Ronaldo can play against any team, any league, any competition and at any stage. He’s a monster now. Hats off to him. Forget Messi, Barcelona as a team has always been poor in the last 6-7 seasons against English opponents.

UEFA and Platini would be hoping that Barca wins the trophy. Platini would even shed tears of joy if they win. But my final prediction: Man Utd 2-0 Barcelona. I think Barca will run around in circles and play their triangles all night but Man Utd will find the straight line that leads them to goal, that is, unless UEFA has fixed the final too.