Blackness

Let's get this over with. Today's papers.
Matt Dickinson in The Times sums up the most disappointing aspect:

The final parp of the whistle put Manchester United out of their misery last night, and how often do we write that of the side led by the most insanely driven pensioner in sport — a man still biting off a journalist’s head for asking a perfectly fair question about his future plans?

Not in European Cup finals, where United’s is a glorious history of extra-time heroics, incredible climaxes and late-night dramas playing havoc with television schedules.

As the red ribbons of United were untied from the European Cup last night, the lack of fuss, the lack of fight, made this a shocking performance in the Stadio Olimpico, if not a surprising result. ...

As he searched for an explanation, Sir Alex Ferguson could not manage any better than to bemoan a terrible first goal to concede (no argument there) and Barcelona’s unwillingness to give the ball back thereafter. The inquest will not stop there after a night when United lacked the tenaciousness and the defiant spirit we normally associate with Ferguson’s teams. ...

United will feel bad enough without us blaming them for failing to make this the spectacle it might have been — but Barcelona won without needing to be near their best.

Tony Cascarino makes a decent point for the first time ever:

Cristiano Ronaldo was frustrated and no wonder. United cannot expect Ronaldo to win games for them single-handedly all the time. He needed others to chip in.

A point echoed by Kevin Garside:

Cristiano Ronaldo cannot win European Cups on his own, as hard as he tried on Wednesday night.

Henry Winter points to our midfield problems:
As the inquests begin, as the carcass of United’s embarrassing defeat is picked over, the tactics employed by Ferguson will inevitably come under the severest of scrutiny.

His decision to start Ryan Giggs in the hole behind Cristiano Ronaldo in a 4-2-3-1 formation backfired badly, managing the remarkable double of somehow leaving Ronaldo isolated and Michael Carrick and Anderson badly exposed. In a long season, this was a game too far for Giggs, who was constantly bypassed. A 4-3-3 approach, which most observers had expected, would have brought more security to midfield. ...

United were virtually playing the Polo formation – nothing in the middle – and Barcelona soon added a second, this time headed in by Messi. It is on chastening occasions like this that the loss to tendinitis of Owen Hargreaves is felt most acutely. A natural defensive midfielder, Hargreaves would have got among Xavi and Iniesta.

Kevin McCarra manages to inject a bit of hope:

The modern-day United are too adept at this style of football. Alterations are ­guaranteed and Ben Foster, for instance, must come to the moment of truth next season as he is forced to show that he really ought to supersede Edwin van der Sar. By and large, though, Ferguson does not have a group of jaded or old players.

Some, like Wayne Rooney, are of an age and temperament to be crazed by a desire to set matters right next season. That is United's consolation. The European Cup is no longer theirs, but the footballers are vigorous enough to be galvanised by a mission to recover it.

James Lawton gets the chance to write the report he must have been waiting for weeks, and which he probably wrote weeks ago, I'll just quote the first and last paragraphs, they give the idea:

To call Barcelona the champions of Europe this morning is to give them their lesser title. The one they demand, unquestionably, is champions of football. ...
It would be comfortable to say the champions of England were beaten. Unfortunately, though, it ran a little deeper than that. They had been undressed and outclassed by the most beautiful team in all of football.

Simon Barnes, in an article on Sir Alex, points to a few things, and a referee's decision which everyone else seems to have forgotten about:

Greatness can also be removed by a decision of a referee, and whether the decision is correct or not hardly matters. The power these men have over Ferguson and his destiny is dizzying, almost incomprehensible. How could anyone live with it? One blast of the whistle and Fergie’s rightful place is snatched from him. No wonder Ferguson, like most managers, is principally remarkable for impotent rage.

One player can lose everything in a moment of distraction. Anderson’s slip-up for the first goal, the referee’s refusal to send off Gerard Piqué for body-checking Ronaldo. These matters are beyond planning, beyond computation, beyond the scope of management. And yet it was these things that left United chasing the game after ten minutes in which they had looked unbeatable.

Comments from Sir Alex:

"The simple reason [we lost] was possession," Ferguson volunteered. "We didn't do anything with it. We recognised beforehand that the strength of Barcelona was their three central midfield players and that's why I used Giggs, who could play towards the front but also drop into midfield, but their possession of the ball hurt us. It wasn't really Messi who was the problem. It was Iniesta and Xavi. They can keep the ball all night long."

Ferguson's magnanimity did not end there. "You have to give credit to a very good Barcelona team," he said. "If they get in front of you they are very difficult to beat. They kept possession of the ball and made it very difficult to get back. When we did get possession we didn't do well with it. Credit to them, the better team won."

Slightly less flattering to Barcelona comments from Sir Alex:

"Our whole season has been built on our defensive strength but they were very shoddy goals," said the United manager. "It has to be said that it was shoddy defending, particularly the first goal, which gave them a great boost.

"That goal was a killer for us. It was their first attack and it was a bad start for us. We had been confident and bright at the start but we got nervous after the goal. We had plenty of time to recover and had some half-chances in the second half but the crosses were disappointing. We weren't at our best. We didn't plan to concede that early but it's a fact and we didn't deal with it well enough. That's the story."

Player Comments, Ferdinand:

"It's just a shame we didn't play well," said Ferdinand. "We still created five or six chances but they were the better team. You have to give credit to Barcelona. They played well. On a night like this you need to play your best football and we didn't produce it – all over the park, individually and collectively."

Rooney:

"I think Iniesta is the best player in the world right now. They pass the ball so well. If you don't take your chances against them, they will punish you. We're hurting right now but we just have to make sure we get back to another final and play better.

"It is a big disappointment but Barcelona were the better team. Barcelona scored two good goals and unfortunately for us, they came at good times. That made it very difficult for us. It is very disappointing and the feeling at the moment is not a good one."

Giggs:

"We maybe chased it and didn't keep our shape as well as we should have. We still created chances. But we said whoever turned up on the night would win and that has proved to be the case. They turned up and played some great football — we didn't. I think if we had gone a goal ahead, we're capable of keeping the ball like they did. But credit to them, they deserved it tonight."

And finally to Ronaldo, whose comments about his future don't look so bad when placed in the context they were given, of going off with the international team:

'My future now is the national squad, so that we can win, so that we can be in a good position in our qualifying group,' he said.

'About clubs, I do not want to talk about that, I want to rest, go on holiday, I am very tired, I have played a lot of games, a lot of pressure. The future, we will see.'

As to the game:

'This is one of the biggest disappointments of my career,' he added. ' I cannot explain it. We, the players, were not well, the tactics were not good. Everything went wrong.

'We have to give credit to Barcelona, but they were a bit lucky to be here because Chelsea did not deserve to lose and no-one has mentioned that.

'It was very bad in the dressing room afterwards but that is normal after you lose a game. I have to congratulate Barcelona, they were better, but football is just like this. Only the winners get talked about.'