FC Barcelona won their 4th UEFA Champions League tittle against Manchester United by 3-1 at Wembley stadium in London, England. Canarian striker Pedro opened the score at 27' with a wonderful pass from catalan legendary midfielder Xavi. The "Red Devils" tied at 34' with a powerful goal by brit bad boy Rooney. Several other shots at goal were made by the catalan side but the halftime stop with both sides tied at one.
The culés controlled the ball almost 70% of the time during the game. Then at 54', argentine foward Messi put the 2-1 with a long distance goal which took Man U's dutch goalkeeper Van Der Saar by surprise. It was Messi's first goal in english soil. To wrap the wonderful performance by the blaugranas, Spain striker David Villa scored at 69' with a play started by Man of the Match, Messi, and a pass from catalan defensive midfielder Sergio Busquets.
At the end, french defender Eric Abidal (who had battled cancer in the previous months) raised "La Orejona" to celebrate the azulgrana's 3rd UEFA Champions tittle in 6 years. The catalan side also won in 2006 against Arsenal (2-1) and in 2009 also against Man U (2-0).
Messi was the competition's leading scorer with 12 goals equaling Van Nistelrooy's previous 2002-03 record. "La Pulga" ended with 53 goals and 25 assists in the entire season and is in the run for his 3rd straight FIFA Ballon D'Or award.Barcelona's head coach Josep Guardiola got the 10th tittle of his three year span. 3 straight La Liga tittles (2009, 2010 and 2011), 2 UEFA Champions Leagues (2009 and 2011), 2 Spanish Supercups (2009 and 2010), 1 European Supercup (2009) and 1 FIFA Club World Cup (2009) and 1 Copa del Rey (2009). Also, he is the only coach in history to have won a Sextuple by winning all the tittles possible in a single season of European football.
FC Barcelona has three more competitions to complete their almost perfect year. In August 14th, they face arch rivals Real Madrid in the first leg of the 2011 Spanish Supercup at Bernabeu stadium. The second leg is at the Camp Nou in August 17th. This competition faces up Liga Champions and Copa del Rey Champions.
In August 26th, they play the 2011 European Supercup against UEFA Europa League winners, portuguese side Porto, at the Stade Louis II in Mónaco. In December 8-18, they will compete for the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup against the winners of the Champions League of the other FIFA world regions. They qualify for the latter three competitions by winning the 2011 UEFA Champions League.
