Sir Alex: We missed Fletch

Darren Fletcher was perhaps the perfect player to disrupt Barcelona's possession football, and Sir Alex Ferguson's fears before the game that the suspended midfielder would be a great loss sadly proved prophetic.

The Reds boss recognises that Barcelona also had players missing through suspension, but from a United point of view Fletcher would have been key in disrupting the flow of passes from Andres Iniesta and Xavi to the front three of Eto'o, Henry and Messi.

"I thought before the game it may have been a problem," said Sir Alex.

"I knew it might count against us because he is a big-game player and he was a big loss. It's difficult to say how big, and they had players missing too, but it showed for us tonight."

Fletcher's ability to cover every blade of grass in the middle of the park would have been an asset as United tried to regain possession - but keeping the ball was also a problem.

"The simple reason we lost was possession," Sir Alex added. "You have to wait minutes to get it back off Barcelona but when we did get it, we didn't do anything with it.

"That was the disappointment, our use of the ball when we had it.

"We recognised beforehand their strength was their central midfielders. It wasn't really Messi who was the problem. It was Iniesta and Xavi. They can keep the ball all night long.

"You have to give credit to a very good Barcelona team. If they get in front of you they are very difficult to beat."

Wayne: We're in Roo-ins Wayne Rooney surveyed the ruins of Manchester United's Champions League dream and admitted: We lost to the best team in the wo

As poor as some individual performances were last night, I think there is a very good reason for this - every time a United player got the ball there were usually at least two opposition players chasing him down and pressurising him into making a mistake. Yes, the Reds should have done better and dealt with this but credit to Barcelona's off-the-ball play.

In contrast, I noticed there was simply too much space and time for Barcelona's players between the 18-yard line and the halfway line in our half. The killer second goal came as a result of them being able to controll the ball, run with it and pick out the cross with no pressure. It happened all night - we allowed them to play and pass easily.

I don't think that Rooney should play on the left wing, he just wasn't effective, but we didn't have anyone else to do the job there last night and maybe that needs looking at.

I agree with Sir Alex's decision to play Ronaldo up front, largely because I don't think he would have tracked back if he played on the wing, but it's another area that requires consideration. We have Tevez (or maybe not next season?), Berbatov and Rooney, all of them strikers but two started on the bench and one on the left wing. For me, the team didn't look balanced.

As much as I like Park and the energy he puts in, the class of Barcelona's players really showed against him on the night; same goes for Anderson.

Overall I think Barcelona were just the better side. It wasn't a case of our players not being able to play - Barcelona just stopped us and made us look like the lesser side.

Off the ball they chased and pressured us. On the ball they were composed and had too much time. Iniesta and Xavi, in particular, were excellent.

The difference between the teams last night was a bit worrying for me. But we will learn from this and come back better and stronger.
The views expressed in this blog are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Manchester United FC.

Papers: Rooney hails Iniesta

Wayne: We're in Roo-ins
Wayne Rooney surveyed the ruins of Manchester United's Champions League dream and admitted: We lost to the best team in the world. But the heartbroken Old Trafford star refused to hail Barca's Lionel Messi and instead dubbed Andres Iniesta the world's best player. Rooney said: "It's disappointing, but I thought Barcelona were the better team tonight and deserved to win. They scored a good goal early on and Messi's was a great goal at a difficult time for us. They deserved to win. I've never played against a better team than this Barcelona. They're a brilliant team." A Samuel Eto'o toe-poke on 10 minutes and Messi's soaring header after 70 underlined Barca's superiority here in Rome. But Rooney added: "Iniesta for me is the best player in the world, he's incredible."
Neil Custis & Antony Kastrinakis, The Sun

The papers, like our message board, are packed full of post-mortems on United's failure to retain the Champions League and little of it makes happy reading (or repeating here!)

Credit where credit's due, though, and there are plenty of pundits and press-men raving about the victors Barcelona, including their former manager Terry Venables. Writing in The Sun, 'El Tel' says Lionel Messi "finally showed us what he can do... Guardiola pulled off a surprise by playing his most prized asset in the hole - and in the process probably changed the destination of the European Cup."

Reds deposed as Kings of Europe

United’s dreams of becoming the first team to retain the Champions League ended in heartbreak in Rome, as goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi gave an impressive Barcelona a deserved victory in the Stadio Olimpico.

It meant that the Reds tasted defeat in a European Cup final for the first time - having won the previous three final appearances of 1968, 1999 and 2008 - but on the night there could be few arguments with the outcome.

Barcelona were simply the better side over all bar the first 10 minutes and in deposing the reigning champions, Pepe Guardiola's side - Spain's first Treble-winners - proved themselves worthy new holders of the crown.

United began the stronger side and came close to opening the scoring, but after Eto’o had fired the Spaniards into an undeserved early lead, Barcelona dominated, with Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta repeatedly probing the Reds' defence.

Sir Alex Ferguson brought on Carlos Tevez for Anderson at half-time and later replaced Ji-sung Park with Dimitar Berbatov as United went in search of an equaliser. But just as the Reds were sensing a way back into the game, Barcelona delivered the crushing blow. A spell of pressure ended with Xavi sending in a teasing cross which found the unmarked Messi, who headed home past the stranded van der Sar.

Not even the introduction of Paul Scholes - match-winner against Barcelona in last season's semi-final at Old Trafford - could turn the tide of possession in United's favour. Despite the efforts of all fourteen players deployed at the end of an epic season, the Reds were, for once, second best on the biggest stage.