Manchester United v FC Barcelona - Champions league Final

Warper

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

Surely he will play Park - he seems to use him in nearly all the big European nights and he does a good job too.

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Yeah I reckon the midfield will be packed with workers. Probably Carrick lying behind Anderson and Park.

At least I'd like to see that.

deisedevil

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Warper wrote: »

Surely he will play Park - he seems to use him in nearly all the big European nights and he does a good job too.

Plus Park will top himself if he misses out 2 years in a row.

Fergie has said there is a good chance of Park starting and Park is well up for it by the sounds of things:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_5317066,00.html

_blank_

Barcelona (Barcelona fan)

deisedevil wrote: »

Plus Park will top himself if he misses out 2 years in a row.

Park missed out completely last year, wasn't even in the 7 subs iirc.

Ferguson said it was the hardest decision of his career to leave Park out of that squad.

I reckon Park has a 75% chance of starting this match, and will definitely be in the 18 players named.

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

deisedevil wrote: »

Plus Park will top himself if he misses out 2 years in a row.

Fergie has said there is a good chance of Park starting and Park is well up for it by the sounds of things:

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_5317066,00.html

I'm almost certain Park will start. Park is one of those players that I admire so much because of his work rate. He deserves to be in the starting line up.

Also I want him to get man of the match so I can hear him speak

LuckyLloyd

Closing this for now, because it has been a trainwreck quite frankly. We will definitely reopen it or start a new thread a few days before the final. In the absence of the ability to preview the game substantially as of now, we are being left with petty squabbles and discussion of previous incidents.

If any of my fellow mods disagree feel free to reopen at will.

Xavi6

Barcelona (United fan)

+1 Lloyd, good call, except for this -

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

start a new thread

My beautiful poll :pac:

LuckyLloyd

Xavi6 wrote: »

My beautiful poll :pac:

Sigh. :rolleyes:

I'll tidy this thread and reopen it the week of the final. Happy?

Xavi6

Barcelona (United fan)

Chuffed

therecklessone

This thread is reopening, but be warned:

Any continuation of the crap that marred the early part of it and led to it's closure in the first place will be dealt with by the mods.

Play nicely please.

lisbon_lions

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

therecklessone wrote: »

Any continuation of the crap that marred the early part of it and led to it's closure in the first place will be death with by the mods.

Play nicely please.

:eek:
surely you meant 'dealt'

leninbenjamin

Barcelona (Barcelona fan)

lol, a freudian slip of gigantic proportions. at least now we know what goes through the mods heads

Headshot

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

any news on henry and iniesta ?

gimmick

Manchester United (Neutral)

Both are major doubts according to Ballague which is great news for Man U. If they are both missing Wednesday, Barca can throw their hat at it.

therecklessone

leninbenjamin wrote: »

lol, a freudian slip of gigantic proportions. at least now we know what goes through the mods heads

More my hangover dyslexia, but I like to think we escalate our actions as follows:

Warnings
Infractions
Bans
Death

Headshot

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

gimmick wrote: »

Both are major doubts according to Ballague which is great news for Man U. If they are both missing Wednesday, Barca can throw their hat at it.

very good news indeed

if both miss out Ronaldo might be playing down the right and maybe Rooney up front with either tevez or berba

gimmick

Manchester United (Neutral)

IMO, the strongest team Barca can put out is as follows

Valdes

Sylvinho.....Pique.....Puyol.....Cacares

Iniesta....Yaya Toure.....Xavi

Henry....Etoo....Messi

I have a feeling though that Keita may well go left back. Thats what the Spanish press are reckoning anyway. I would elave the centre halves as they are. Play what you have in their strongest positions.

Headshot

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

thought Puyol was out ?

Mitch Connor

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Never heard that myself. What I have read most is that Puyol was likely to move to RB in place of Alves. Never heard mention that Sylvinho might play RB.

gimmick

Manchester United (Neutral)

Puyol plays. Alves and Abidal are suspended. (Alves is also injured now).

Sylvinho to play left back. Sorry if my formation is not clear above.

RasTa

Hmmm starting to feel nervous about this, it's going to be a slow work week.

gosplan

Utd can win this but Park, Anderson and Carrick need to have their games of the season.

Chelsea nullified Barca by having probably the greatest collection of central midfielders ever sitting in front of their back four - Lampard, Ballack, Essien.

I fear for United with Fletcher missing as he's their only experienced DMF, I just don't know if they can come close to winning the battle in midfield or dominating possession. Obv Ronaldo could have a stormer and even things out but it's going to be tough for them.

Park simply has to play which is pretty funny. "No Ji-Sung, you're not getting games against Stoke or City or Newcastle but there'll probably be another CL final soon enough so don't worry."

ShooterSF

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

gosplan wrote: »

Park simply has to play which is pretty funny. "No Ji-Sung, you're not getting games against Stoke or City or Newcastle but there'll probably be another CL final soon enough so don't worry."

It makes sense when you think about it. Park offers cover and work-rate which is useful against good teams. He's of little use against a team that sits back and looks to soak pressure. Same reason Hargo and Fletch have better games in the big games.

dubmick

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

any news on Henry and Iniesta, are they fit to play?

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

dubmick wrote: »

any news on Henry and Iniesta, are they fit to play?

gimmick wrote: »

Both are major doubts according to Ballague which is great news for Man U. If they are both missing Wednesday, Barca can throw their hat at it.

.

gosplan

ShooterSF wrote: »

It makes sense when you think about it. Park offers cover and work-rate which is useful against good teams. He's of little use against a team that sits back and looks to soak pressure. Same reason Hargo and Fletch have better games in the big games.

I know. I'm not doubting the logic but it's just a pretty funny position to find yourself in if you're a footballer.

kida

I want Barca to have a full strength team, shut the begrudgers up then if we win it.

gimmick

Manchester United (Neutral)

But Barca will not have a full strength team regardless. As mentioned already Adibal and Alves are definitely out due to suspension and Henry and Iniesta looking very dodgy also.

Warper

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

Injury update

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada08-09/05/n090525105216.html

Headshot

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Warper wrote: »

Injury update

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/noticies/futbol/temporada08-09/05/n090525105216.html

Barcelona’s last training session before leaving for Rome has brought good news for the club’s fans: Andres Iniesta and 'Titi' Henry have trained with their teammates, albeit not as strenuously.

Pep Guardiola looks increasingly likely to get back two of his key players, especially down the left of the park, for the Champions League final.

First full session

25-05-09_WEB_INIESTA_01.jpgThis Monday both Andrés Iniesta and Thierry Henry have finished a full session with their teammates for the first time since getting injured earlier this month. However, both players did do less strenuous work-outs than the rest of the squad.

Iniesta tore his right thigh muscle in the League game against Vila-real, while Henry is recovering from a blow to his right knee sustained against Real Madrid.

Xavi spoke about the two players at a post-session press conference. He said that “things are looking good” and hoped both Iniesta and Henry would be available for Rome.

ahh dammit

Boggles

gimmick wrote: »

But Barca will not have a full strength team regardless. As mentioned already Adibal and Alves are definitely out due to suspension and Henry and Iniesta looking very dodgy also.

To be honest if we had Hargreaves and Fletcher available, It wouldn't bother me if Adibal and Alves were available.

Not to mention a fit Brown in the semi finals last year was man of the match.

Both sides have injury troubles, no excuses for whatever team loses.

SlickRic

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

Boggles wrote: »

Both sides have injury troubles, no excuses for whatever team loses.

agreed.

i'm delighted titi and andrés look as though they'll be fit. the last thing i wanted in this final is for one team to be decimated by injuries/suspensions, and for the argument to roll on and on afterwards that 'the best team didn't win'.

also titi deserves another crack at the final.

kida

thats my point Boggles - if Iniesta and Henry play they are equally balanced.

UnitedIrishman

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Really looking forward to this one now, with a good degree of confidence too that we'll get the job done. Surely we have to get chances against Barcelona's defence and I'm sure Fergie will have something up his sleeve in dealing with their midfield - he wouldn't just go into it blindly thinking we can match them up.

Denis Irwin

Massimo Busacca to Referee Champions League Final:

Swiss referee Massimo Busacca has been chosen by the UEFA Referees Committee to take charge of the UEFA Champions League final between FC Barcelona and Manchester United FC at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Wednesday.
All-Swiss team
Busacca, who is 40 and from Monte Carasso in the southern, Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, will be assisted by his fellow countrymen, assistant referees Matthias Arnet and Francesco Buragina. The fourth official will be Claudio Circhetta, also from Switzerland.
Experience
Busacca has been an international referee since 1999 and has officiated 77 UEFA matches. He has taken charge of 32 UEFA Champions League matches, six this season. Among others, he officiated at the quarter-final return leg between FC Porto and Manchester United in Porto and the knockout round return leg between Panathinaikos FC and Villarreal CF in Athens. He also refereed the 2006/07 UEFA Cup final in Glasgow between RCD Espanyol and Sevilla FC.
National-team assignments
A company director and keen skier, Busacca has also refereed various top national-team matches, including the UEFA EURO 2008™ semi-final between Germany and Turkey and the 2006 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 match between Argentina and Mexico.

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/keytopics/kind=524288/newsid=833109.html

gimmick

Manchester United (Neutral)

There will be no alcohol sold in Rome from 11pm Tuesday night until Thursday morning. Bit drastic I would have thought.........

Denis Irwin

gimmick wrote: »

There will be no alcohol sold in Rome from 11pm Tuesday night until Thursday morning. Bit drastic I would have thought.........

They did that in Bari for the Ireland game albeit was only the day of the game and even then it was only until match started. Although you could still get a beer if you knew where to look

PHB

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Both teams have injury problems which mean they could be in big trouble. United have no DM, and if Toure plays in midfield, I think we'll be in real trouble. However hopefully he'll have to play in the back and let it be creatives vs. creatives.

I'm kinda confident, in that I think we've got a good 50-50 shot, maybe even 55-45. Will know more when I see the teams, which will start to be leaked tomorrow night I'd say, for the CL they always get out early.

missingtime

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

John O Shea to score the winner...

Smegball

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Was just thinking, I would LOVE if Berbatov came off bench and won it for us, the amount of unnecessary flak he has received this season is beyond a joke.

Would be so happy for him to prove his doubters wrong on this biggest stage of all

CR 7

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Smegball wrote: »

Was just thinking, I would LOVE if Berbatov came off bench and won it for us, the amount of unnecessary flak he has received this season is beyond a joke.

Would be so happy for him to prove his doubters wrong on this biggest stage of all

A 70 yard diagonal through ball from Anderson, in the 68th minute, controlled from head height by Berbatov to stop it dead on the ground, then a Zidane-like spin to round Valdes, before letting the momentum of the ball roll itself ever so gently over the line, would be nice.

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Smegball wrote: »

Was just thinking, I would LOVE if Berbatov came off bench and won it for us, the amount of unnecessary flak he has received this season is beyond a joke.

Would be so happy for him to prove his doubters wrong on this biggest stage of all

I'd rather Tevez did tbh.

Headshot

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

ando to score

peno

A7X

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Headshot wrote: »

ando to score

peno

Well it would be about time

EDIT: argh didn't see ur white writing. Ya sneaky so and so

Julez

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Headshot wrote: »

ando to score

peno

Would absolutely love to see it! Altough with that shot of his... :rolleyes:
How can someone pass the ball to exactly where he wants it to go but once its a shot its usually row Z, ha.

T-b0n3

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Headshot wrote: »

ando to score

peno

Haha brilliant

CR 7

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

Julez wrote: »

Would absolutely love to see it! Altough with that shot of his...
How can someone pass the ball to exactly where he wants it to go but once its a shot its usually row Z, ha.

One possible solution could be to pay one of the stewards to hold a cardboard cut-out of Rooney behind the net and get Anderson to pass it to him.

SlickRic

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

missingtime wrote: »

John O Shea to score the winner...

as much as it'd pain me, i think i'd end up laughing in the end if this happened.

im not an O'Shea hater by any means, but let's face it, it'd be funny.

make it a 30 yard thunderbolt from O'Shea, and then I'd definitely be laughing.

PHB

Manchester United (Barcelona fan)

I think Ronaldo and Rooney are, as always, our most likely goal scorers. Ronaldo can win this game on his own. He'll get at least 2 really good chances (for him) of that I've no doubt, let's just hope he puts it away.

SlickRic

Don't care (just want the game to be a cracker)

PHB wrote: »

Ronaldo can win this game on his own. He'll get at least 2 really good chances (for him) of that I've no doubt, let's just hope he puts it away.

and vice versa...messi, eto'o, henry, iniesta can all win the game on their own too.

barca have more match winners imo, it's whether you can contain them, and still be a threat at the other end.

the match is a coin toss.