Champions League Final Tactical Preview: Barcelona vs Manchester United

Both teams have full squads and are in good form for the May 28 final at Wembley, which means this should be an interesting encounter between Josep Guardiola's Barcelona team that many believe is the best squad ever assembled and a Manchester United team that Sir Alex Ferguson, who is known for building historic squad, has put together.

Lineups

Barcelona are expected to play their usual 4-3-3 with Eric Abidal at left back and Carlos Puyol at the heart of the defence.

Man United have all their players available and will probably go with the 4-5-1 that Fergie has been using this year for some big games. With that formation he can cancel out Barca's formation and also keep it tight at the back.

Tactics

Barcelona will play their usual possession football and will try to have extra movement in their front three, plus Andres Iniesta to lose his markers. Sergio Busquets has a very important job: he will have to stick to Wayne Rooney and make sure that Rooney doesn't get time to play those cross-field balls. 

Manchester United will sit deep and mark the players that are crucial to Barca's game. Park Ji Sung will run with Alves throughout the game and Darren Fletcher will try to keep Iniesta quiet. Ryan Giggs will keep an eye on Xavi but will have the most important job: delivering the right balls to Antonio Valencia and Javier Hernandez for the counters. Patrice Evra will have to use his pace to cover behind his center backs when through balls are played.

Key Battles

• Park vs Alves
• Fletcher vs Iniesta
• Rooney vs Busquets
• Rafael vs Villa
• Evra vs Pedro

Game Prediction

The game will be controlled by Barcelona, with Xavi and Giggs being the most important players of the game. Both teams will be cautious and Messi will be quiet in the first half. The second half will be Barca going on the offense but Man U will deal with them fairly well. Hernandez's speed will cause problems for the Barca defence. Lionel Messi will have a moment of magic. Expect this one to go down to the wire.

Result Prediction

The game will be decided by which team makes the most mistakes. With Abidal just fit and Puyol and Pique not the fastest players, Manchester United might just get this one.

Manchester United 2-1 Barcelona

Goal scorers: Chicarito, Messi, Valencia