Barcelona – 2011 UEFA Champions; Messi’s Greatness Shines Through

Barcelona  3 – 1  Manchester United; Lionel Messi earns Man of the Match honors.

Watching the first 8 minutes of the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday you may have thought it would be a long 90 minutes for Barcelona. Manchester United started impressively, dominating the opening minutes of the game. But the Catalan side weathered the storm and slowed the game down whenever in possession, and slowly but surely turned the match at Wembley Stadium into their own.

It was that Barcelona side that got on the board first with a Pedro goal, scored in the 27th minute. But Manchester United rallied and Wayne Rooney tucked one into the back of the net just 7 minutes later, forcing the teams to go into half time tied at 1-1.

After the break Barcelona continued to break down the Manchester United defensive and keep the ball off the feet of the English side. Messi scored the game winner in the 54th minute and David Villa finished Manchester United off with a third goal in the 69th minute.

The victory was clearly a show of technical dominance at midfield for Barcelona. Particularly effective were Xavi, Iniesta and of course Messi, who plays the withdrawn forward but is often found dropping deep into the midfield.

Barcelona ended the game with a 63 percent possession rate. Iniesta completed 98 out of 107 passes and Xavi had a whopping 124 of 136. Just the fact that both midfielders touched the ball so many times, let alone their accuracy rate, is a testament to their dominance in this year’s championship match.

“I think it was obvious what happened tonight,” said Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. “We knew we were up against a good team before the game and planned as best we could. But they do mesmerize you with their passing and we never really controlled Messi. Of course, many people have said that.”

The 23-year-old Messi seemed to be everywhere in this match and had a hand in most of Barcelona’s 12 shots on goal (16 shots total).

Messi’s goal in the 54th minute capped off a season that was clearly a breakout year for the Argentine who had been previously tagged as a player who didn’t show up in big games. But this was not the case in the 2010-2011 campaign. His Champions League Final game-winning goal was his 53rd of the season and his 12th in Champions League competition.

“To be the Man-of-the-Match is the least important thing, because it was incredible how we played. We were very good in all areas,” Messi said. “We’re very happy to lift another trophy.

“It was a difficult season but we showed who we are. We were the better team.”