On reflection, leaving the Man Utd squad at home and playing the Newcastle United team instead was something of an error. One team showed up on the night, the other have rarely looked so anonymous. This was the first defeat the club have experienced in a final of a major European tournament.
The better team, yesterday
After Manchester United had put in nearly all the early running in Rome, with Ronaldo striking the target with a free-kick after two minutes before having two more chances in the opening ten minutes, it was Barça who grabbed the lead, with their first attack of the game. Iniesta carried the ball into the final third of the field, played in Samuel Eto’o in the box, and the Cameroonian beat Vidic all ends up before firing past Van der Sar. Giggs sent a free-kick over the bar as United looked for the leveller. Barcelona’s defence did sway intermittently but it was never asked to come through an onslaught.
Carlos Tevez was introduced at the interval, with Dimitar Berbatov to follow, but the Barcelona problem could not be solved by throwing forwards at it. Indeed, it was Barça who continued to look threatening, Thierry Henry was foiled by Van der Sar, before Xavi crashed a free-kick against the United post, as Barça came flying out the traps early in the second period. In the 70th minute that Catalans bagged their second, Xavi picking out an unmarked Lionel Messi in the box and the Argentine rose high to head home. It was his first goal against an English team in a Champions League fixture after 10 blanks.
This could easily have been a rout to rank with Milan’s drubbing of Barcelona in the 1994 final.
“We were well beaten, the better team won and there’s nothing we can do about it now. There’s a disappointment in the performance, some individuals will feel it themselves when they look at how they played. With the players we have, I would have expected better. You have to give credit to a very good Barcelona team because if they get in front they can make it very difficult for you to get the ball back. But it’s difficult to put your finger on it. When we did get possession we didn’t do enough with it.”
Sir Alex Ferguson admitted his Manchester United team had been outplayed
Increasingly middle-aged and increasingly disillusioned by modern football, I want to share with you how good football used to be before it was ruined by money. 
Shite.