The Wembley final pits the competitions leading scorers –FC Barcelona -against the the team who’ve conceded least –Manchester United.
The game will see two different philosophies of the game come up against each other, with Barça
imbued with their manager’s favourite verb –attack!- whilst Manchester United, though
certainly not abandoning a positive approach, are more dependent on their defence and are the team
who’ve conceded least goals so far in this year’s competition.
Guardiola’s team have scored 27 times in the 12 games played in this year’s
competition, averaging 2.25 goals a game. Of those 27, Messi has scored 11 to become the
competition’s highest scorer ahead of Mario Gómez (Bayern M.) and Samuel Eto’o (Inter)
with 8 each.
Real Madrid are the second highest scorers with 25 goals, whilst United average just 1.5
goals a game and are only ninth.
There is only one United player in the top 20 scorers in the competition -
‘Chicharito’ Hernández, who is tenth with 4 goals, whilst Rooney has just three to his
name. The two of them, together with the veteran Ryan Giggs are the attacking reference points for
United, a team with a much more direct route to the opponents’ goal than Barça do. United
count on two top goalscorers, whilst Barça take a much more elaborated route through their skilful
ball playing midfielders. Two contrasting styles that will come together on Saturday night in
London.
The table of teams who have conceded least goals turns the story
on its head, with United having conceded just four times, averaging 0.33 a game. Only Rubin Kazan,
who were knocked out of the competition at the group stage, have conceded fewer games, Barça for
their part are eighth on that list, having let in 8 goals –averaging 0.67 goals a game.
Van der Sar is well protected by a typical back line of Fabio, Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra and
in his last year in goal for the team he has not had to pick up many balls from the back of his net
as part of an exemplary defensive unit.
A comparison of the two defences, reveals that Fabio is less of an attacking force than
Alves, Fernando and Vidic are better known for their strength and tackling rather than their
distribution –something which Puyol, Pique and Busquets are famous for, whilst Evra, like
Maxwell or Adriano, is indeed an attacking full back. The Barça back line takes more risks and
attacks more and not surprisingly therefore, concedes more goals.