Gary Neville and Paul Scholes expertly broke down Man Utd’s 2009 Champions League final defeat, unable to ‘overpower’ ex-teammate who was ‘not physical’

United’s loss in 2009 in Rome stung harder. Before then, United had only known victory in European finals. Against Benfica in 1968, Bayern Munich in 1999, and the Cup Winners Cup versus Barcelona in 1991.

Against Barcelona in Rome, United lost 2-0 against a team Sir Alex Ferguson’s side knocked out over two legs in the semi-final a year before, and were denied a glorious chance to win the Champions League back-to-back for the first time.

Still to this day, you wonder if United let this one slip somehow. If a different selection combination could have won the day? What if the team had scored one of the early chances?

After Samuel Eto’o scored a 10th minute opener, the game turned. Barcelona began to really dominate possession, and United walked into their trap, unable to get a grip on the match, and had just two shots on target all game.

Gary Neville and Paul Scholes on 2009 final

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes began the game on the bench, with United deploying Park Ji-Sung, Anderson and Michael Carrick.

Gary Neville was an observer, not among the matchday squad, with John O’Shea starting at right-back, although he had flown out to Italy with the team, watching the game from the stands along with suspended midfielder Darren Fletcher.

Scholes came on in the 64th minute, six minutes before Lionel Messi doubled Barcelona’s lead and put the Spaniards out of sight.

Scholes and Neville spoke about the game on Stick To Football, admitting they had not discussed the defeat together since, and expressed both bemusement and admiration for Pep Guardiola’s tactical plan.

Neville said: “The first 15 minutes of that game it was the first time I had ever seen the centre-backs go back to that level, I had never seen it before in my life, I thought ‘what the hell is that?”

Scholes responded: “I just couldn’t believe it was happening, I’d never seen Toure and Pique [like that], they were like two yards from the byline outside the box, it was incredible.”

Neville revealed how this extreme tactical choice by Barcelona was beyond anything United’s pre-game analysis had prepared them for.

He said: “I’d never seen it, in the videos we’d watched, never two yards off the byline. When you look back now you think this is madness, this is mayhem and we actually nearly had two goals.

“We never knew they were going to take the level of risk of the goalkeeper on the six yard box passing it backwards. Even in the build-up to the game we weren’t expecting that level of depth.”

Scholes explained how heading into the match United were confident and believed their fitness and power would lead them to victory, and also picked out former teammate Gerard Pique as a possible weak link.

The club legend explained: “I remember going into that game we thought, the talk of it was we were going to overpower them. They had a couple of players missing, Thierry Henry was struggling, Iniesta struggling, Yaya Toure centre-half, Pique you never thought was that physical.

“And for 10 minutes, yeah we’ve got a chance here. After that I don’t think we kicked the ball.”

United did have a couple of early chances with a Cristiano Ronaldo free-kick coming close to being turned in by Park after it was initially spilled.

Scholes added that in hindsight, he came to appreciate the smartness behind Barcelona’s tactical plan, and how it stung United.

With Barcelona stretching the pitch out, United’s attackers and midfield would chase them down, creating spaces further up where Xavi and Iniesta could dominate possession, keep the ball, and create attacks.

Scholes said: “You think ‘why would they do that?’ but it’s to open up the middle of the pitch. They had the three in there, Iniesta, the extra man, the overload, they shipped it into Messi, at times there’s four or five of them. It just opens everything up.”

Amid the heat of the final played on a warm Rome night, chasing down Barcelona became an arduous task for United, who were unable to find a spark.

Roy Keane underlined United’s problem

Roy Keane had left Manchester United in bitter circumstances in 2005 and was long retired by time his former teammates were playing the 2009 final.

He expressed his matter-of-fact view on the game to his Stick To Football panelists when listening to their analysis.

Keane pointed out: “It’s hard to overpower teams when you can’t get near them.”

Scholes was in total agreement, nodding: “We couldn’t, we didn’t.”

Manchester United climbed back up the mountain in 2011 to reach the final, only to meet Barcelona again.

This was an even better version of the same side, with the core of their Spanish team more confident, World Cup winners, with Eto’o and Henry replaced by younger stars David Villa and Pedro, and Messi a step closer his peak years.

United lost that game 3-1, and while Wayne Rooney managed to score and equalise at half-time, the second half was one-way traffic for Barcelona, with United unable to lay a glove on the La Liga side.

2009 is the one you wish we could replay. We could play 2011 all over again, and it would be the same result every time. The game in Rome, there’s still a sense among fans that it could have gone United’s way with a little luck, despite Barcelona’s tactical ingenuity.

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