27.05.2009 10:20
FCB v Manchester United: Did you know?
Roger Bogunyà
Barça and Manchester United meet in the Champions league final tonight. The following trivia provides some interesting background information for the game.
- It is Barça’s sixth appearance in the final. Of the previous five, they
won two (1992 and 2006) and lost three (1961, 1986 y 1994). It is United’s fourth final, but
they have won every time they have made it so far (1968, 1999 and 2008).
- Barça is the highest scoring team in the
competition. In all they have scored 30 goals in 12 games (2.5 a match). That’s the best
average since 1998/99, when Manchester United tallied 2.7 a game. So this game features the highest
scoring side (30) against the one that has leaked the fewest goals (6).
- United have not lost in Europe for 25 games. In fact, they haven’t lost
since they crashed to Milan, 3-0, in the 2006/07 semi final on May 2.
- Both sides won their leagues on the same day: May 16. Barça won theirs because
Madrid lost to Villarreal and a draw was enough for United against Arsenal to guarantee the trophy.
- FC Barcelona have already won one trophy on May
27. That was in 1951, when they won the Spanish Cup final against Real Sociedad. They won 3-0, with
goals from César (2) and Gonzalvo III, the first titles of the Kubala era.
- If United win, Sir Alex Ferguson will equal Bob Paisley’s record of three
European Cup titles with Liverpool (1977, 1978 and 1981). Josep Guardiola can also make history by
becoming the sixth man to win the competition as both a player and manager, following in the
footsteps of Miguel Muñoz, Giovani Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, Carlo Ancelotti and Frank Rijkaard.
- Thierry Henry has the most experience of scoring goals against United. With
Arsenal he scored 9 times in 18 games against the Red Devils.
- This is the second meeting between the teams in a European final. The other was
the Cup Winners Cup Final in 1991, played in Rotterdam and won by United, 2-1.
- Guardiola, Scholes and Giggs are all set to renew old rivalries. As players,
they all crossed paths in the group stages in 1994/95. At Old Trafford, Paul Scholes was making his
European debut. The Englishman and Welshman (and Gary Neville too) also faced Barça in 1998/99, and
both scored in the 3-3 draw at Old Trafford.
- No side has retained the title since 1990, when Milan won consecutive
championships.
- Two of the three previous finals in Rome’s Olympic Stadium have had
an English winner, Liverpool on both occasions. The last final had no British presence, and no
Spanish club has ever played the final in Rome.
- A team has won a treble every decade since the sixties, and Barça could continue
that trend tonight. It would be the first of the 21st century and also the first for a Spanish
club.
- United have only lost two games this season after scoring first, and both times
against Liverpool. At Anfield, Benítez’s side came from behind to win 2-1, and at Old
Trafford they ended up winning 1-4. An early United goal is rarely good news for the opposition.