Countdown To Armageddon

Champions League Final countdown begins in earnest today.
There's comments from many of our players around. The most interesting ones coming from Berbatov:

Berbatov is asked whether he feels that his low-key style - the usual adjective is languid - leads people to mistake it for lethargy or even laziness. “You know when someone has great qualities sometimes they don't have to put much effort into things,” he says. “Sometimes the things I do look effortless but it's not like that. It's very difficult, but because of my style of play I make it look easy. I don't know. When I get the ball, like you say, people are charging around the field. But that is my role in the team. When I get the ball, the players need to start running and then I just feed them with the ball.”

His comments on the FA Cup semi penalty miss:

what about that dreadful penalty against Everton in the FA Cup semi-final shoot-out last month, the one that made it look like he did not care? "I'm not angry because I am my biggest critic," he says. "I know what I did wrong. I go home and try to get over things. Obviously, it's very difficult when you make a mistake and everyone is trying to attack you. You try to be strong.

"It hurt a lot. I am not sure I would take a penalty [in Rome]. Let's hope it's not going to get to that because it's difficult. I am the new guy in the team. When you make a mistake people sometimes go straight for the new guy. I am not sure there are going to be penalties anyway."

In his defence, Berbatov pointed out that his penalty for Spurs against Chelsea in the Carling Cup final last year was identical but that one went in.

And on not smiling:

"Of course I am enjoying it. It would be stupid if I was laughing all the time. I really enjoy myself. When we won the title I was in the locker room and so happy. I don't smile all the time but I smile inside. I am the happiest guy around, trust me. I don't like to show my emotions too much." ...
When talk turns to the great Bulgaria team of the 1994 World Cup finals, he is asked what it did for the Bulgarian people. "At last people knew we existed," he replies, glumly. Cheer up, Berba, you might even score the winner tomorrow, but if he does don't expect him to put the cup on his head or take part in any daft celebrations. It is just not his style.

A typically understated interview with Paul Scholes:

"I'd have thought that next season will probably be my last year. I have one year left on my contract, but this year hasn't been great and whether it will get any better next year, I don't know. I've had a knee injury again this season. I seem to get a three-month knee injury every season now.

"It sets you back and I haven't contributed as much as I would have liked to have done. I get pain in my knees most days and I definitely feel my age. The eye problem is still there, but I have probably become totally used to it now and that's not an issue.

"But I've dipped in and out of the team this season and really struggled, to be honest, playing one game every 10 days.

"Some people adapt to that and some enjoy it, but I don't think it has worked for me. It's hard to keep yourself fit when you don't play every week."...

"When I finish, I might look back and think, â Yeah, I did alright, I played a lot of games and w on a lot of trophies.' I've been lucky to do that, but I'll never, ever think that I'm at the same level as the likes of Mark Hughes and Bryan Robson.

"Sparky and Bryan were my heroes, more so Robbo, and I still feel that when I see him around the club now. I loved him playing for United and England. ...

"I've played for a great club that I always wanted to play for and won a lot of medals. I don't count 1999, so it'd be great to win a second Champions League medal on Wednesday. Barcelona are a great team, though, so it won't be easy."

Anderson tells us how he'll celebrate should he score against Barcelona:

Brazilian midfielder Anderson is preparing an eye-catching celebration should he break his two-year goal scoring deadlock in the Champions League final in Rome this week.

As he approaches the end of his second season at Old Trafford the 21-year-old is hunting his first 'official goal' despite having twice scored from the penalty spot.

"Let's get it right," he said, "I have scored two goals – two penalties.

"But I do have a celebration planned – I'm going to strip naked and run around the stadium."

I'm really beginning to love Anderson, take this, from The Mirror:

Most of the team could barely raise a smile before flying out for their Champions League showdown with Barcelona.

All apart from Anderson that is, who - with a big grin and thumbs up - looked like he was going on a Roman holiday.

He got a funny look from Cristiano Ronaldo for wearing trainers with his club suit unlike his team-mates in smart shoes.

Words from Vidic:

"Rio is the best partner I have ever had. He is a great player with great ability and we just understand each other and what we will both do.

"We can think the same way on the pitch, but I can't explain it. It's just happens with some players.

"I feel good when he plays and I enjoy it. I don't want to think that he will not play. He is an important player for us and I think he will make it."...

"Every football player dreams to be in a Champions League final and I remember everything that happened around the game last season - I still have good memories of the fans, my family coming to the game, the media build-up, everything.

"You feel the pressure, but you need to learn to deal with it. We have great players, players with experience.

"As soon as the season finished in Moscow, though, we started to think about this one and what would happen this year because we want to win it again.

"This is what this club is about. We try to focus on bringing success to the club and you do that by focusing only on the next game."

Rooney:

“Since we won the Premier League, I have been thinking about the final every day.

“You think about scoring in it and winning it and that helps you prepare.

“Before every game I can picture myself scoring and doing good things in the game.

“I ask the kitman the day before a match what kit we are wearing, so I can think about myself in the proper strip.

“I can see myself picking up the trophy now!”...

“I dream as much as I ever did.

“There’s a lot of money in football. But if I wasn’t playing for United I’m sure that I would be playing Sunday League with my mates, because I love football.

“I will watch whatever match is on TV and, if I’ve missed one, I will watch a recording.”

There's a piece on Park in The Times which says nothing new so I won't quote from.
Onto Barcelona players, Messi has a few words to say about us:

‘Manchester United have quality everywhere,’ says Messi.

‘So many good players. But if I had to pick one out it would be Ronaldo.

'He is a player I would pay to watch.

‘He and I are very different players but he is unbelievable, very special, and it will not be easy to stop him.

'But we must not pay all attention to him and forget about Berbatov, Rooney and Carlos Tevez.

‘Manchester United have players all over the pitch who can punish you in the same way we have.’

And both Pique and Iniesta single out Rooney:

'When he is really focused he is simply unstoppable,' said defender Gerard Pique of his former United team-mate. 'I have never seen a player as powerful as Rooney - the way he goes past people, the intensity of his play, the runs he makes from the first minute to the last and the shot that he has. World class.
'Perhaps he does not get the credit he deserves because he should score more goals but he offers so much.'
Iniesta said: 'What I value most about the way United play is how hard players like Rooney work. He was filling in at left back against us last year in the semi-final. We cannot commit any mistakes because they have so much firepower up front.'

Rio seems to be looking good for the Final:

coming through his most arduous training session since suffering the calf injury that jeopardised his appearance in Rome.Ferdinand flew out with the rest of Sir Alex Ferguson's players today after taking a full part in morning training. There was no apparent reaction to the problem that forced him to miss Manchester United's past four matches.

Onto a former player, Teddy Sheringham remembers the '99 Final:

I did not realise it was so near the end until I saw Peter Schmeichel coming up for the corner, then I knew there could not be long left to play. The ball came in from Becks [David Beckham], it went to the far post and Dwight Yorke headed it back before a defender half-cleared it and it went to Giggsy [Ryan Giggs] on the edge of the box. He scuffed his right foot shot and it came my way.

I knew I was onside because they had a fella on the line. Before I hit it he ran out, so when the ball came to me it looked like I was offside but I knew that I wasn't. After I'd scored I went off celebrating but I checked with the linesman to make sure he'd seen it right.

A few seconds later we had another corner and Becks took it again. I went to the near post and got in front of my man but I got up a little bit early and realised I wouldn't be able to score, so I flicked it on to the far post into an area where I knew one of our players would be and Ole [Gunnar Solskjær] stuck out a leg and put it in the top of the net.

It was a complete shock how we turned it around and to this day people come up to me and tell me that by the time they had finished celebrating the first goal we were celebrating the second one. People watching it in pubs were still celebrating reruns of the first goal and then were celebrating even more – some didn't know there had been a second goal, it happened that quickly.

And on the subject of former players, there's an interesting piece on Veron by Kevin McCarra on The Guardian Blog:

Juan Sebastián Verón suffered from bad timing. He should have been born half a dozen years later. The Argentinian had thrived on the Italian scene but lost his bearings in the Premier League. In 2001, when switching from Lazio to Manchester United for £28.1m, Verón went to the right place at the wrong moment.

Caricatures, by definition, have truth at their core and it is roughly correct to say that European fixtures suited him better in that spell. There may have been as much frustration as anger in 2002 when Sir Alex Ferguson rejected journalists' doubts over Verón with the words, "Youse are all ... idiots". The following summer the player was sold to Chelsea at half-price. Suppose, however, he had been a 26-year-old in 2007, arriving at Old Trafford as the perfect signing to complete United's new approach. A Verón in his prime could have shaped the more studied play that Ferguson had been seeking. He would have flourished in deep midfield, showing off his technique and occasionally supplying a spectacular moment.

In this week of all weeks there is no reason to sigh over the failure of the Verón initiative. Over the course of these past two seasons United have turned into Champions League holders who seem quite well-placed to retain the trophy tomorrow. The way in which United currently operate must have been the one Ferguson had in mind when buying Verón.

In those days English football had a vestigial pride in its roughness and exciting disorganisation. Foreigners were supposed to get used to it. Some did but others never got over their bafflement. Nowadays the leading sides have the same philosophy as clubs on the continent and tend to outdo them.

Martin Samuel argues the (admittedly obvious) case that if we win tomorrow it'll beat anything Liverpool ever did:

Make no mistake, if Manchester United beat Barcelona tomorrow, it will be the most significant victory by an English club in European competition.

There are two English teams who have retained their title as champions of Europe: Liverpool in 1977 and 1978 and Nottingham Forest in 1979 and 1980.

These were fabulous achievements, too; but they do not compare to Manchester United keeping the prize in the 21st century.

Those who espouse the difficulty of the old format, with the presence of instant knockout rounds from the start, often make the argument that a modern Champions League team can afford to lose the odd game, while the European Cup competitor could not.

History does not bear this out, either.

Manchester United have not lost a single match across these two years, winning 15 and drawing 10 of 25.

Compare that to Liverpool, who lost four of their 16, or Nottingham Forest, who lost two in 18, and drew four.

Any game played across two legs carries the potential for defeat and then retrieval and Liverpool exercised it in the unlikeliest places, not least Trabzonspor in Turkey, where they lost 1-0.

It is a myth that just one slip spelt disaster in the old European Cup.

Liverpool lost twice on the way to the final in 1978, and played only seven matches.

That year, they received a bye in the first round, meaning that a solitary win against Dynamo Dresden of East Germany at Anfield — they lost the away leg 2-1 — was enough to put the team in the quarter-finals.

The Kop may join Michel Platini, the UEFA president, in romanticising the old days, but in victory, the case for United as the greatest of all champions would be a compelling one.

Finally, The Mail says that Sir Alex will get to lead the team up for the trophy should we win:

Sir Alex Ferguson will be invited to lead his Manchester United team on to the victory podium here in Rome tomorrow night if he becomes the greatest manager in history.

Officials from United and Barcelona met UEFA last week and agreed to ditch the use of ambassadors that left Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon looking so embarrassed at the Champions League final in Moscow last year.

Instead, European football's governing body have agreed to let the managers lead their teams up for what could prove a poignant moment for Ferguson at the Stadio Olimpico.

Ferguson is among 14 managers to have lifted the European Cup twice but victory against the Catalan giants would rank him alongside Liverpool's Bob Paisley as the only manager to have won the competition three times.
He would also become the first manager to defend the trophy successfully in the modern format and end any argument - having won 43 trophies at Aberdeen and United already - that he is the greatest manager of all time.