Barcelona revels after Champions League win

May 28, 2009

ROME (AFP) – Barcelona striker Thierry Henry said his side’s 2-0 Champions League final triumph over Manchester United will stay long in the memory, while beaten goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was at a loss to explain why his side failed to reproduce their top form.

Goals either side of half-time in the final at Rome’s Olympic Stadium from Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o and Argentina star Lionel Messi gave the Spaniards their third European Cup crown.

Victory ensured Barcelona became the first team to win the Spanish treble of La Liga, the King’s Cup and the Champions League.

Henry was in the Arsenal side which lost to Barcelona at Paris’s Stade de France in 2006 and said the taste of Champions League victory was all the sweeter.

“This victory will remain engraved in my memory,” said the 31-year-old.

“I had already known this kind of emotion when we won the Premier League title with Arsenal.

“It is something special to win the treble, it is a part of history.”

Henry, who had double cause for celebration as it was his daughter’s birthday, shrugged off a knee injury to play in Wednesday’s final and said he left it until the eve of the game to decide whether he would play.

“For my part, I did not think I would be able to play, but on Tuesday evening I started to understand that it was going to be good,” said the Frenchman.

“You just have to grit your teeth and get on with it, but as always with Barca, you always give your best.

“There is always a clear plan of attack, whoever the opponent.”

United’s dreams of becoming the first team to defend the Champions League title were left in tatters as Barcelona out-played the English Premier League champions.

Manchester were just a shadow of the side who beat Chelsea in Moscow 12 months ago and van der Sar – their hero last year in the penalty shootout win over Chelsea – was at a loss to understand why.

United stars like Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo conceded defeat to Barcelona with little resistance and once Eto’o scored the first goal after ten minutes Manchester lost their composure.

“They got off to a good start and after the first goal it just all seemed to go wrong for us,” said the 38-year-old goalkeeper whose coach Sir Alex Ferguson described his side’s defending as “shoddy”.

“We seemed to be under pressure, even when we had the ball.

“It was just one of those nights when things didn’t go so well for us and everything they tried seem to come off.”

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