Barcelona 3-1 Man United : A Tactical Analysis of the Champions League Final

Goals from each of the front three and assists from each of the midfield three gave Barcelona a thumping victory at Wembley.

Sir Alex Ferguson started Javier Hernandez up front with Wayne Rooney while Ryan Giggs partnered Micheal Carrick in the centre of the midfield. Valencia was preferred to Nani on the right while Park started on the left.

Carles Puyol was not fully fit, so Javier Mascherano started in the heart of the defence alongside Pique while Eric Abidal started at left back. The rest of the team lined up as expected.

Manchester United had a good started but were dominated for the rest of the match. Barcelona were on the top of their game and there was only going to be one winner. Manchester United only had one shot on target and weren't good enough offensively.

First Half

Starting Javier Hernandez was an aggressive move by Sir Alex, but as a result of the 4-4-2 formation, Giggs and Carrick were overrun in midfield.

Rooney was given the job of tracking Busquets but was not effective with most of Barcelona's attacks started by him. Hernandez found himself consistently offside and was not able to get behind the defence to use his pace.

Barcelona's aggressive offside trap was excellent.

Manchester United's defence was deep with the idea being that balls between the centre back and full back can be claimed by the keeper. But this created room between the midfield and defence, which was exploited by Xavi for the first goal.

Manchester United's goal, though brilliant, was against the run of play. 

Second Half

In order to provide more energy in the midfield, Sir Alex shifted Park to the centre with Giggs moving to the left. This created a bit of uncertainty about the men each was picking up. Dani Alves got forward at will with Giggs unable to close him down.

The second Barcelona goal resulted from the defence not picking up Messi and standing off him.

With Berbatov not on the bench and Fabio seemingly injured, Valencia was moved to right back and Nani taking his place. This change didn't affect the play much. Barcelona were keeping the ball and got the third goal at the end of a mazy run from Messi. 

Conclusion

Manchester United lost the battle in the midfield and left too much space between the lines. Hernandez and Valencia were anonymous through the match.

Barcelona dominated the match with a brilliant display from Messi and ran out easy winners.