CL Prediction – Man.Utd 3 – 1 Barcelona

So the time is here. The entire season points to Rome and the Olimpico, Man.Utd and Barcelona will give us a traditional battle for the most important trophy in clubs world. Almost 24 hours before the showdown, I start making predictions and looking to the CL final to make an evaluation of what we can expect. I’m sorry, but I think the 90 minutes will be pretty one sided with the red devils taking the honors.
It’s never easy to assume such a radical prediction. But first the background, even if I’m not a real fan of Man.Utd or Barcelona, I’ve always feel more related to the blaugrana rather than the devils. The Spanish side as always had a philosophy of offensive and beautiful game, while United is – probably – the first team to leave definitively the English style of play and to use a more pragmatic, Continental away with the ball.
So, why predict a United win? Looking back, Barcelona’s offensive game as always find trouble against world class defenses, they got trashed by Milan in the mid 90’s, got a fortunate win against Sampdoria – with a free-kick from Koeman in E/T and record the only victory against a ten man Arsenal and with a late goal. But, obviously, past games with different coaches and players are not the best away to predict a match (well that’s just one aspect of it).
Maybe the cruelest aspect in modern football is that ‘offenses win fans, defenses titles’. And if the forward line of each team is very similar (Henry, Etoo and Messi vs Berbatov, Rooney and Ronaldo) and the midfields are also equivalent, with Barcelona in a shorter pass style and Man.Utd in a direct pass way, there is no comparison between the defensive lines. To talk about the goalkeepers is to compare one of the world’s top five – Edwin van der Saar – against an opponent that for a lot of year as been his side weakest point and that doesn’t even get the honor to be called for the national team – Victor Valdés is always a risk, we never know what he is going to do next.
Then, the four man’s in front of them. Man.Utd has three of the world’s top defenders, the CB Ferdinand/Vidic seems like twins and play in perfect harmony, Evra is without a doubt the best Left Back of the world – giving his team defensive security and offensive capability. On the right side Ferguson has to chose for a couple of solutions, but that shouldn’t be a major prob.
When we talk about Barcelona we put our hands in our head, with the two side backs suspended (Alves and Abidal) and Rafa Marquez still injured, there are few things to say about a defense that – I’m afraid – will be under constant fire throughout the final. Puyol with all he’s goodwill will have a bad time in speed and air balls, and Pique is to slow to keep up with the devils forwards.

Tip: We tend to say all finals are unpredictable, but this year’s CL as a clear favorite. Man.Utd as the obligation to conquer the CL. Without three of their regulars on the defense, the Spanish side will find it impossible to stop the devils offensive speed. In the end I think will see a one-sided match with honors going to the English side. Final score prediction: Man.Utd 3 – 1 Barcelona.