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]

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.”

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