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FC Barcelona beat Manchester United FC 3-1 in the final of the 2011 UEFA Champions League to collect the club's fourth title.
FC Barcelona collected their fourth European Champions Cup/Champions League title on May 28, 2011 with a convincing 3-1 victory over three-time winners Manchester United FC. The crown follows trophies from 1992, 2006 and 2009.
Pedro Rodriguez gave Barcelona the lead in the 27th minute and Wayne Rooney equalized after 34 minutes. Lionel Messi made it 2-1 for Barca in the 54th minute and David Villa pushed the lead to 3-1 after 69 minutes.
Manchester United won the competition in 1968, 1999 and 2008 before losing to Barcelona in the 2009 final.
Pedro Opener Equalized by Rooney
Manchester dominated the first 10 minutes with their pressing defense but failed to create a top-level chance. That came for Barcelona in the 16th minute with Pedro Rodriguez heading just wide from eight yards out as the Spaniards began stamping their authority on the game with David Villa striking inches right of the post four minutes later.
Barca’s constant push forward finally netted the opening goal in the 27th minute as Xavi – surrounded by three ManUtd defenders – flicked the ball to the right edge of the box where Pedro struck inside the near right post as Nemanja Vidic came a step too late.
United equalized 1-1 in the 34th minute through Rooney after a give and go with Ryan Giggs. The English striker streaked towards the box and passed to Giggs in the area. The ball went off Giggs’s hip and the veteran – who appeared to be just barely offside – passed back to Rooney for a one-timer neatly placed into the upper left corner for Rooney’s fourth goal in nine Champions League matches.
The game was even at the break 1-1 with ManUtd having surprised Barca with the goal but the Spanish giants regained control of the run of play.
Messi, David Villa Decide Match for Barcelona
Barcelona were slow in building up chances in the second half, but Messi gave the Spaniards back the lead 2-1 after 54 minutes on a superb individual action. Andres Iniesta played a harmless ball to the Argentinean ace, who was given room to rush forward and then beat United keeper Edwin van der Sar with a left footer from just outside the area – Messi’s 12th goal of the Champions League season.
Barca pushed forward wave after wave with van der Sar stopping a Xavi blast in the 66th minute and Iniesta’s hammer a minute later.
David Villa joined the scoring sheet to decide it, collecting a ball from Sergio Busquets and strucking a glorious curling shot into the upper right corner in the 69th minute.
Rooney was close to pulling a goal back two minutes later, hitting the upper netting as the Spaniards did not allow Manchester to cut the lead.
No Home Cooking for Manchester United
This was the 11th European Cup final with a team playing in their home country. The ‘home’ team won seven times – Real Madrid (1957), Milan (1965), Manchester United (1968), Ajax (1972), Liverpool (1978), Juventus (1996) and Borussia Dortmund (1997). Manchester, Stade de Reims (1956), AS Roma (1984) and Barcelona (1986) all lost a final on native grounds.
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