Barcelona line-up: Valdes, Alves (Puyol, 86'), Pique, Abidal, Xavi, Iniesta, Mascherano, Busquets, Villa (Keita, 86'), Messi, Pedro (Afellay, 90')
Manchester United line-up: Van Der Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Fabio (Nani, 69'), Giggs, Park, Carrick (Scholes, 76'), Valencia, Rooney, Hernandez
Wembley hosted the 2010/2011 UEFA Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester United. On the paper the teams couldn't be closer; both teams had previously won three European Cup trophies, both teams won their first trophy at Wembley and they had identical goals scored/goals conceded records in their European history. The big news was that Mascherano would play centre back in replace of the injured Puyol who was on the bench. As for United, Berbatov was not even included in the squad and the disconsolate Bulgarian left the stadium.
United made it three finals in four seasons, Barcelona's second but Barcelona beat United in the 2009 final. The match started in the same vain as in Rome with United enjoying the early parts of the game. They pressured Barcelona for the opening ten minutes and forced mistakes. But it didn't take long for Barca to get a stronghold and start barraging the retiring Van Der Sar's goal. The opening goal was coming and Xavi fed in Pedro, who had slipped in between Vidic and Evra, to tap in past the Dutchman to make it 1-0 after twenty-seven minutes. United were able to regain some control following the goal and equalised seven minutes later; United pressuring Barcelona from their throw-in, Rooney stole the ball and played a couple of one-twos before Giggs played it back to him and Rooney smashed it home. There was the slightest hint of offside when Giggs received the ball but the goal stood in a move that Barcelona would have been proud of.
United came out earlier before the second half, but it did them no good whatsoever. Barcelona took full control after the restart and their second goal was just as imminent. It came nine minutes into the half when Messi was given time to turn and blast his shot past the surprised Van Der Sar from twenty five yards out, the ball nestled into the back of the net. United still couldn't get into the game and Fabio had to be replaced due to an injury. This saw Nani enter the fray with Valencia now at right back. Nani's first involvement was to defend a short corner, he failed to get rid of the ball when he had the chance before the ball fell to David Villa who placed a fantastic shot into the top corner to end the game and give Barcelona their fourth European crown.
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