Josep Guardiola became only the sixth man to win the European Champion Clubs’ Cup as both player and coach after guiding FC Barcelona to a superb victory over Manchester United FC in Rome.

‘Mythical teams’
“It’s a great achievement in [Guardiola's] first year as coach so well done … fantastic,” said opposite number Sir Alex Ferguson. “All his players want to play, keep the ball, and enjoy their football, so all credit to him.” Guardiola, in an increasingly familiar tone, deflected the acclaim but admitted he wants more. “As a player it was great to win that first trophy [in 1992],” he said. “Now we have three [European Cups] which isn’t as many as some, but we’re getting closer to what is a select group of mythical teams.”

Glorious season
Guardiola already sits among distinguished company. A member of the first Barcelona team to lift the European Cup after a 1-0 Wembley triumph against UC Sampdoria in 1992, he appeared in another final two years later, losing 4-0 to AC Milan in Athens. Since stepping up from coaching Barcelona’s B team last June, however, the 38-year-old has experienced only success – the UEFA Champions League title following Spanish Liga and Copa del Rey silverware into the Camp Nou trophy cabinet.

Illustrious list
Two of the other five men to land the European Cup as coach and player also had Barça connections. Johan Cruyff was in charge of the 1992 side having previously prevailed with AFC Ajax in 1971, 1972 and 1973; Frank Rijkaard oversaw the Catalan club’s coronation of 2006 after playing wins with Milan in 1989 and 1990 – the last time a team successfully defended the trophy – and with Ajax in 1995. Miguel Muñoz, Giovanni Trapattoni and Rijkaard’s former Milan team-mate Carlo Ancelotti complete the illustrious list.

European Champion Clubs’ Cup winners as player and coach

Name - (Wins as player) – [Wins as coach]

Miguel Muñoz - (Real Madrid CF 1956, 1957) - [Real Madrid CF 1960, 1966]
Giovanni Trapattoni – (AC Milan 1963, 1969) - [Juventus 1985]
Johan Cruyff - (AFC Ajax 1971, 1972, 1973) - [FC Barcelona 1992]
Carlo Ancelotti – (AC Milan 1989, 1990) - [AC Milan 2003]
Frank Rijkaard – (AC Milan 1989, 1990; AFC Ajax 1995) - [FC Barcelona 2006]
Josep Guardiola – (FC Barcelona 1992) - [FC Barcelona 2009]

Josep Guardiola could barely contain his delight as he was applauded both in and out of the news conference that followed FC Barcelona’s 2-0 defeat of Manchester United FC in the UEFA Champions League final. “We’re not the best team in Barça history but we’ve had the best season,” he said of his treble winners. Although Sir Alex Ferguson “expected better” from the holders, he paid tribute to the victors’ stylish football and admitted “the better team won”.

Josep Guardiola, Barcelona coach
I’m leaving [the job] straight away tomorrow – I can’t do anything to top this … We’re very happy, delirious. We’re aware that we’ve done something magnificent. I’d like to congratulate the whole club and the fans. We’re not the best team in Barça history but we’ve had the best season. We’ve won three trophies but it’s also about how we’ve won them. As a player it was great to win this trophy for the first time. Now we have three which isn’t as many as other clubs but we’re getting closer to a select group of mythical teams. I’ve said many times that we’re fortunate to have the legacy of Johan Cruyff and Charlie Rexach. They were the fathers and we’ve followed them.

At the beginning of the game we didn’t expect Manchester United to press so high. They caused us problems and we have to admit they had a great chance to score from Cristiano Ronaldo’s free-kick [in the second minute]. We scored with our first chance and then tried to move the ball inside. In the semi-final last year we noticed Messi had problems with Evra so we decided to move Leo from out wide to have one more player in midfield. He’s the best right now and has written his name on the Ballon d’Or. Messi has a real talent and will never hide – when the going gets tough he really gets going.

I have to process my emotions now as we’ve done something wonderful. We’re not a tall side and have defended without a few regular players but we attacked and defended well against the best team in the world. Give me a few days to rest and then I’ll tell you how I’m going to tackle next year. I just want to play well and be back here again. You can play badly and still win, but if you are daring and attack you have a better chance of winning – there’s nothing more dangerous than not taking a risk. You can enjoy a victory but with time you enjoy it even more. Tomorrow we will celebrate with Catalonia.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United manager
There’s disappointment at the performance, and some individuals will feel that themselves. Our best performances this season have been when we’ve defended very well and tonight it was shoddy – the first goal in particular which gave them a great boost. We didn’t plan to concede a goal as early as that. You have to give credit to a very good Barcelona team – the better team won. When they get in front of you they keep the ball, and after the opening goal all the midfielders closed in and kept possession, making it very difficult to get it back.

We’ve done well to get to a final but had to win it to change the pattern of teams defending the trophy. It was a big opportunity for us and with our players I expected better, but we couldn’t recover from losing the first goal. We knew before the game what a good footballing team they are. Last year we had no difficulty defending against them, tonight we did after the first goal as Messi dropped into midfield and made it difficult for us. They have to be one of the best teams we’ve played, at what they do. They have fantastic possession of the ball and credit to them as they pursue their philosophy and don’t change.

I’ve been quite pleased with the maturity of the team. Tonight the disappointment was the use of the ball when we had possession. We had to wait minutes to get it back and when we did we weren’t good enough. It could be an off night, or could be that we found the mountain too big to climb after being a goal down. It’s a great achievement in [Guardiola's] first year as coach so well done … fantastic. All his players want to play, keep the ball, and enjoy their football, so all credit to him.

FC Barcelona were crowned European champions for a third time – and the second in four seasons – as a vibrant display of pass and move, capped by goals in either half from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi, defeated Manchester United FC in Rome.

Holders toppled
United, bidding to become the first team to successfully defend the trophy in the UEFA Champions League era, began an open contest at breakneck speed as Cristiano Ronaldo threatened three times. After ten minutes, however, Eto’o put the Spanish champions ahead and they never looked back. Xavi Hernández struck a post early in the second period and, though the clinching second goal did not arrive until the 70th minute – via, unusually, the head of Messi – Josep Guardiola’s side were worthy winners. The 38-year-old becomes the sixth man to lift the European Champion Clubs’ Cup as player and coach; United are the sixth club to lose the final as holders.

Relentless Ronaldo
Fourteen of the players who started the game had featured in a UEFA Champions League final before, yet initially it seemed United’s experience would prove more telling. Ronaldo made his presence felt by unleashing a dipping free-kick that Víctor Valdés could only parry; former United defender Gerard Piqué’s last-ditch tackle prevented Ji-Sung Park from converting the rebound. Ronaldo then had Valdés scrambling across goal twice in as many minutes with shots from distance. If an early breakthrough looked imminent, disastrously for United it arrived when Barcelona struck with their first real attack.

Eto’o brilliance
Fit-again Andrés Iniesta was the orchestrator, finding Eto’o inside the area, but there was still plenty for the striker to do with Nemanja Vidić in close attendance. One swift turn inside the centre-back later, Eto’o was free to prod a shot inside Edwin van der Sar’s near post. United’s vocal supporters were stunned into silence and their team mirrored that reaction, with Barcelona enjoying the better of the half thereafter. Perhaps not surprisingly against the competition’s best defence, however, clear chances were at a premium. Long-range efforts from Messi and Xavi, and a low Messi cross fumbled by Van der Sar, were the best Barça could muster.

United reprieves
Sir Alex Ferguson had said beforehand that his best team-talks “usually come to me about three in the morning” and the Scot sorely needed inspiration in his half-time instructions, opting to introduce Carlos Tévez for Anderson. This did little to stem the tide. Thierry Henry tricked his way past Rio Ferdinand only to shoot weakly against Van der Sar before Xavi curled a free-kick beyond the keeper, the post coming to United’s rescue. Then Wayne Rooney’s right-wing centre bounced over Park’s lunge as the holders began to edge their way back into proceedings, disrupting Barcelona’s rhythm though creating little of their own.

Messi decisive
Twenty minutes from time, that hard work was undone. Xavi was allowed to advance down the right; with time and space, the midfielder measured a pinpoint cross for Messi, enjoying similar freedom, and the UEFA Champions League’s top scorer produced a fabulous header for his ninth goal of this campaign. Valdés promptly denied Ronaldo to preserve the two-goal cushion, yet the better openings continued to come at the other end – Van der Sar frustrating Carles Puyol twice and Iniesta. Sir Alex therefore missed out on joining Bob Paisley as the only manager to lift three European Cups. Instead, Guardiola’s superbly inventive Barça became the first Spanish side to win league, cup and UEFA Champions League in the same season.

FC Barcelona and Manchester United FC are ready to put on a spectacle worthy of a place in history when they meet in the UEFA Champions League final in Rome, the Eternal City.

Stirring finale
Two of European football’s most evocative names, the newly crowned champions of England and Spain, cross paths at the Stadio Olimpico with United aiming to become the first team in 19 years to successfully defend the European Champion Clubs’ Cup and the first in the UEFA Champions League era. Having already lifted the Liga and Copa del Rey this month Barcelona have the chance to claim an unprecedented Spanish treble. It promises to be one of the more stylish gladiatorial contests staged in the city of the Colosseum, with Sir Alex Ferguson saying simply: “It has the capability to be a fantastic final.”

History help
United have never lost a European Cup final while two of this competition’s three previous showpiece matches in Rome ended in an English victory. According to Sir Alex, another success is essential to justify his club’s ever-growing stature. “I’ve repeated many times we should have done better in Europe. To be in the pantheon of great teams, the prerequisite is to win this cup. It’s an opportunity for us to go alongside a lot of the great teams. This team has that type of future – it’s a young squad with the right type of experience which can do well in the next few years. Hopefully we can endorse that.”

United and Barça Promise ‘Fantastic’ Final … read more »

Jürgen Klinsmann got his wish as FC Bayern München departed the competition with heads held high, even if Seydou Keita denied them victory on the night as FC Barcelona eased through to the semi-finals with a comfortable 5-1 aggregate triumph.

Subdued visitors
After their 4-0 first-leg defeat in Catalonia, Bayern were determined to restore pride, and appeared on course for a morale-boosting win when Franck Ribéry put them in front early in the second half. However, though deprived of coach Josep Guardiola, who was serving a one-match touchline ban, a subdued Barça sprang to life to conjure an equaliser through Seydou Keita to reach the last four for the third time in four years.

Toni chance
Klinsmann had promised his team would be on the front foot from the opening minute, and Bayern were true to their coach’s word as they showed more enterprise in the first five minutes than in all 90 of their loss last Wednesday. The German titleholders should even have raised hopes of an improbable comeback with an early goal, only for Luca Toni to miscue his header from José Ernesto Sosa’s pinpoint delivery. While the Argentinian, a surprise inclusion in place of Bastian Schweinsteiger, provided menace on the right, a penetrating Ribéry run down the left forced a corner from which Zé Roberto was given a clear sight of goal, but the Brazilian scuffed his effort.

Bayern Save Face as Barcelona Keep Apace … read more »