World awaits Champions League final

All the ingredients are in place for a classic Champions League final at Wembley on Saturday when millions of fans around the world will settle down to dine on what should be a rare footballing feast.

Barcelona, champions of Spain, seeking their second European crown in three years after their victory over Manchester United in 2009, and United, Premier League champions in pursuit of their second in four having beaten Chelsea on penalties in 2008.

The coruscating passing patterns Barcelona have weaved to reach their second final in three years have brought them accolades from far and wide and not even the most dyed-in-the-wool dissenters have raised much objection to their being described as the best club team there has ever been.

Standing four-square in front of them are Manchester United, long vying with the Spaniards for the unofficial title of the world's most popular club and now returning to the site of their first European Cup 43 years ago, albeit a rebuilt Wembley.

Barcelona hold the ace in the pack in the shape of Lionel Messi, a giant of the sport to rank alongside the mighty triumvirate of Pele, Diego Maradona and Johan Cruyff and scorer of an incredible 52 goals this season.

His second in the semifinal win over Real Madrid compares with the best of any of those great players and, having failed to live up to expectations at last year's World Cup, Messi is due a performance to grace the biggest of club stages.

Surrounding him is the bulk of Spain's World Cup and European Championship-winning team, players who have forged a bond of telepathic understanding that enables them to mesmerise world class opponents with the relentless speed and accuracy with which they fizz the ball between them.

United cannot claim to match those talents but the 2008 winners and Premier League champions have their own way of winning big matches.

The all-action, raw power of Wayne Rooney, the natural finishing of Javier Hernandez, the midfield energy of Park Ji-sung, the vast experience of Ryan Giggs, the granite defending of Nemanja Vidic and the reliable goalkeeping of Edwin van der Sar, making his final appearance before retiring at the age of 40, combine to make a formidable unit.

They also have Alex Ferguson, the man who dragged the club back from their self-flagellating role as England's fallen giants into their current position as a team who expect to be challenging for, and winning, the Champions League every season.

Barcelona's fledgling but already hugely successful manager Pep Guardiola will relish pitting his wits against Ferguson, a man he respects and admires, but in truth his team virtually runs itself while it is the Scot who will have to come up with the answers on Saturday.

Ferguson's pride in the name of United will make it hard for him to go in to the match thinking of how to stop the opposition, but realistically that is their key task.

He knows United will get enough of the ball enough times to create problems, especially on the break, and that he has players of the right quality to take the chances that will come.

But in between there will be long spells of Barcelona dominance, triangles of crisp, one-touch passing and the constant probing of Messi.

How his players deal with that and where they allow it to happen will go a long way to deciding the outcome.

Probable teams

Manchester United: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 20-Fabio, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 15-Nemanja Vidic (captain), 3-Patrice Evra; 25-Antonio Valencia, 16-Michael Carrick, 11-Ryan Giggs, 13-Park Ji-Sung; 10-Wayne Rooney, 14-Javier Hernandez.

Barcelona: 1-Victor Valdes; 2-Daniel Alves, 3-Gerard Pique, 5-Carles Puyol, 22-Eric Abidal; 16-Sergio Busquets, 6-Xavi, 8-Andres Iniesta; 17-Pedro, 10-Lionel Messi, 7-David Villa.

Manchester United v Barcelona past meetings

March 1984, European Cup Winners Cup quarter-final
Manchester United 3 Barcelona 0
Trailing 2-0 after the first leg of their European Cup Winners Cup quarter-final at the Nou Camp, Manchester United were given little chance of progressing against the Catalans who featured Argentine maestro Diego Maradona.
But goals in each half from England captain Bryan Robson levelled the tie before Frank Stapleton blasted in the winner on one of the great European nights at Old Trafford.

May 1991, European Cup Winners Cup final
Manchester United 2 Barcelona 1
United’s first victory in Europe in 23 years, the Cup Winners Cup final in Rotterdam belonged to Mark Hughes. The Welsh striker had endured a miserable stay at the Nou Camp before being sold back to United.
Hughes gave his former employers a painful taste of what might have been by scoring two second-half goals, the first a close-range toe-poke following a Steve Bruce header, the second a thunderous shot from an acute angle.
Ronald Koeman scored a late consolation for Barcelona.

November 1994, Champions League group phase
Barcelona 4 Manchester United 0
With United unable to field a full-strength side because of UEFA’s restrictions on foreign players, Ferguson’s men were given a brutal lesson by Barcelona in this Champions League group phase encounter at the Nou Camp, where Hristo Stoichkov and Romario were the tormentors in chief.
Bulgarian striker Stoichkov scored twice, while Romario and Albert Ferrer completed the scoring.

November 1998, Champions League group phase
Barcelona 3 Manchester United 3
The second of two extraordinary group games during United’s treble-winning season which both finished 3-3. Barcelona took the lead through Anderson before United’s magical strike partnership of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole took over.
Yorke scored a brace and Cole added another as United went ahead before Rivaldo equalised twice for Barcelona.

May 2009, Champions League final
Barcelona 2 Manchester United 0
United started superbly, with Cristiano Ronaldo seemingly intent on upstaging Lionel Messi in what would be his final match for the Red Devils.
But after withstanding the early onslaught, Barcelona struck through Samuel Eto’o and United were to spend a frustrating evening struggling to win possession from the Catalans celebrated midfield pass masters.
Messi added the second with a header to complete a miserable night for United.

Champions League past finals

2001: Bayern Munich 1 (Effenberg 50-pen) Valencia 1 (Mendieta 2-pen)
(After extra-time; Bayern won 5-4 on penalties)

2002: Real Madrid 2 (Raul 8, Zidane 45) Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Lucio 13)

2003: AC Milan 0 Juventus 0
(After extra-time; Milan won 3-2 on penalties)

2004: Porto 3 (Carlos Alberto 39, Deco 71, Alenichev 75) Monaco 0

2005: Liverpool 3 (Gerrard 54, Smicer 56, Alonso 60) AC Milan 3 (Maldini 1, Crespo 39, 44) (After extra-time; Liverpool won 3-2 on penalties)

2006: Barcelona 2 (Eto’o 76, Belletti 81) Arsenal 1 (Campbell 37)

2007: AC Milan 2 (Inzaghi 45, 82) Liverpool 1 (Kuyt 89)

2008: Manchester United 1 (Ronaldo 26) Chelsea 1 (Lampard 45)
(After extra-time; United won 6-5 on penalties)

2009: Barcelona 2 (Eto’o 10, Messi 70) Manchester United 0

2010: Inter Milan 2 (Milito 35, 70) Bayern Munich 0

Leading European Cup winners

9 - Real Madrid (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002)
7 - AC Milan (1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007)
5 - Liverpool (1976, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005)
4 - Bayern Munich (1974, 1975, 1976, 2001), Ajax (1971, 1972, 1973, 1995)
3 - Barcelona (1992, 2006, 2009), Inter Milan (1964, 1965, 2010), Manchester United (1968, 1999, 2008)
2 - Benfica (1961, 1962), Juventus (1985, 1996), Nottingham Forest (1979, 1980), Porto (1987, 2004)

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