Disappointingly, Manchester United were comprehensively beaten 3-1 against Barcelona in the 2011 UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley, which saw lose out on the title.
Pedro opened the scoring, but Wayne Rooney quickly equalized for United, but goals Lionel Messi and David Villa in the second half gave Barcelona, who defeated United in the final for the second time in three seasons, the trophy.
It was not a very convincing performance by the Reds, but which player did enough to earn Man of the Match for United?
Edwin van der Sar – 6
In his last performance as the United No. 1, van der Sar did well to keep out a couple of efforts and two of three goals he could not have done anything about.
Fabio – 4
Selected ahead of his twin brother, Rafael, and John O’Shea, but the only good piece of defending that Fabio really offered was his goal-line clearance, which saw him injure himself in the process.
Rio Ferdinand – 6
Known for his experience in big matches, other than a couple timely tackles Ferdinand was non-factor against Barca’s attackers.
Nemanja Vidic – 6
Constantly having to cover a large portion of the left-hand side of the United defense, Vidic was constantly up against much faster Barcelona players.
Patrice Evra – 4
Not a very good performance at either end, Evra was either pinched way too far inside defending or caught way too far forward.
Antonio Valencia – 5
Was honored to be the first Ecuadorian to have featured in an UEFA Champions League Final, but Valencia’s sub par performance will not live long in his memory.
Michael Carrick – 5
Known for being a holding midfielder this entire season, Carrick was often seen pushed further up the pitch trying to win the ball back, which exposed the back-four on a few occasions.
Ryan Giggs – 5
Played a delightful one-two with Rooney for the goal, but other than Giggs did not offer much going forward or helping out in the battle of the midfield.
Ji-Sung Park – 5
Put in another lung-busting performance, but, at times, Park looked like he was a chicken running with its head cut off chasing the ball.
Wayne Rooney – 7 (Man of the Match)
Scored a lovely goal, but Rooney offered a lot of heart and determination by not quitting until the final whistle blew.
Javier Hernandez – 4
Was one of his worst performances since joining United, but Hernandez is still young enough to learn from his first major final appearance.
Substitutions
Nani – 5
Disappointed not to have started, but Nani came on for Fabio and had only one chance to put his stamp on the game – a left-footed shot dragged wide of the target.
Paul Scholes – 6
Came on as a late substitution for Carrick, but even the calmness of Scholes did not have a chance to make a dent in the Barcelona’s domination in the midfield.
Overall – 5
Sir Alex Ferguson has been waiting for this game for the last two years, but, unfortunately, it was the same sort of result as his Manchester United players were outclassed by a far superior Barcelona team.
See the Barcelona player ratings here
Submitted by The United Religion
