In a Champions League final that thoroughly lived up to the considerable hype, Barcelona recorded a 3-1 victory to claim their fourth European Cup, bringing their tally level with the great sides of Bayern Munich and Ajax. The scoreline tells only part of the story though.
Barcelona were at their irrepressible, unstoppable best in this game, and had spells where they were tearing Manchester United...Champions of England and probably second or third best team in Europe, mind you...tearing them to shreds. The spell between the second and third goal in particular was some of the most compelling attacking football I've ever had the privilege to witness.
United can look back on a bright start and perhaps think what might have been. For the first ten minutes, just as in Rome 2 years ago, they were first to everything and frankly Barcelona looked rattled. The tempo that United opened with was never going to work for 90 minutes, and it seemed that Barca sensed this. Messi dropped deep, Xavi dropped deeper, internal, organic reshuffling of the pack to address the issue of, god forbid, an opponent actually trying to control the game. Their game.
And from around 15 minutes in, be under no illusions, this was Barcelona's game. They controlled the football so often and with such authority that United were being outplayed in a way that, as Alex Ferguson conceded, they maybe never have before. When Pedro gave Barca the lead from yet another inch-perfect through ball from Xavi, it had been coming.
A moment of brilliance from Rooney, linking well with Carrick and then Giggs before unleashing an expert finish brought United on level terms. It was massively against the run of play, and although it meant parity at the break, it never seemed to seriously worry the Blaugrana.
As mentioned above, they had spells of such scintillating attacking football that United couldn't cope and millions couldn't look away. Messi was unforgivably given time and space around 30 yards out, and the inevitable goal that followed was taken with such speed of foot and power of shot that Van Der Sar can be forgiven for reacting slower than he should have. Villa's sumptuous third carries no such blame, the keeper had not a chance in the world of stopping it.
Messi's goal brought him level with the record number of goals scored in a Champions League campaign, and with the way he was destroying the United defence, a record-breaking 13th goal in his 13th match looked like nothing more than an option that he had full control over taking or not. As it was, the professionalism of Barca kicked in and with Villa's third effectively sealing the tie, they chose to sit back and make safe the victory rather than search for more goals.
They still had chances, plenty of them - the most spectacular would have been Iniesta's genius attempted lob near the death, but essentially they knew that with United requiring two goals to force extra time, there was no need for them to attack and take risks. This disappointed me slightly since they could probably have scored 5 or 6 without too much trouble, but the trophy is all that matters.
The performance from Barcelona was so utterly dominant that no-one can argue they are not deserving champions. When your beaten opponents all come out and credit you as a great team even in the immediate aftermath of defeat, you know you have played well. This was just what I was hoping for, a stellar display from a side that are increasingly building a case to be one of the greatest teams ever assembled. They have the chance to form a dynasty now...no team has yet managed to retain the Champions League in it's current format so that must surely be the next goal for Pep Guardiola and his phenomenal team.
Final word goes to the man below. Three times winner, aged only 23. The best player in the world, what a dream it is to be able to watch him play, we are lucky to have him.
Lionel Messi, perhaps only in the fullness of time will we understand just how good he is. Certainly he has the time and the ability to re-set all perceptions of what is possible. What a player.
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