MANCHESTER UNITED

Edwin van der Sar - 5
Made a couple of decent saves, but should have done better with the first and second goals. Sad way for the 40-year-old to bow out of football.

Fabio - 6
A brave pick by Sir Alex Ferguson largely justified. Produced a mature display and did not get much help from Antonio Valencia down the right. Hobbled off with a calf problem.

Patrice Evra - 5
Pinned back into his own half for most of the game, the Frenchman had his hands full defensively. Stood off Messi as he fired in Barca's second.

Nemanja Vidic - 6
Stayed strong in the first half to stop wave after wave after Barca attack, but eventually the onslaught proved even too much for the Serb.

Rio Ferdinand - 6
Was wrong-footed by Messi a few times as the Argentine gave him twisted blood, but it's hard to criticise anyone too much for coming off second best in that battle.

Michael Carrick - 5
Played marginally better than he did in Rome two years ago, but again was no match for Xavi and Andres Iniesta. Mostly a passenger.

Ryan Giggs - 5
Gave the ball away too often, which is suicide against this Barca team. Tough ask for a 37-year-old, and his first real failure of the season.

Park Ji-Sung - 5
In the team to give United energy, he failed to deliver. Couldn't stop Dani Alves marauding down the right and didn't counter-attack with any conviction.

Antonio Valencia - 4
Another hugely disappointing display. Was given two big tellings off by his manager in the first half but failed to improve. No threat going forward, no help tracking back.

Wayne Rooney - 7
Looked frustrated for much of the game, but took his goal quite brilliantly to show his undoubted class on the big stage. Kept going right until the end too.

Javier Hernandez - 5
Looked like the occasion might have been too big for him. His touch was not assured as usual and link-up with Rooney almost non-existent.

Subs:

Luis Nani (on for Fabio, 68 mins) - 6
Came on at 2-1, but it was immediately 3-1 and had few chances to get involved.

Paul Scholes (on for Carrick, 77 mins) - 6
Threw himself into a couple of challenges, but no time to impose himself.

BARCELONA

Victor Valdes - 7
In truth, didn't really have much to do. No chance of saving Rooney's goal, but United could not get close enough to Valdes to test him in the second half.

Dani Alves - 8
Gave Barca boundless energy, never stopped running up and down the right flank and showed some deft touches too. Outclassed Park.

Eric Abidal - 8
A monumental performance from the left-back only two months after undergoing surgery on a liver tumour. Had Valencia in his pocket.

Gerard Pique - 7
Unflappable as always, Pique had little to do and had the best view in the house as his team-mates put on a masterclass of attacking football.

Javier Mascherano - 8
Considered a risk at centre-half before the game, the Argentine started off shakily but grew in stature and before too long looked like he had played there his entire career.

Sergio Busquets - 9
If all eyes were on his behaviour, he was impeccable - and his positioning, tackling and distribution were world-class too.

Xavi - 9
The man for the big occasion, Xavi was immense. He constantly probed away for gaps in the United defence and his pass for Pedro's opener was stunning. Must have eyes in the back of his head.

Andres Iniesta - 8
The little maestro with the electric feet was also at it again. The odd stray pass apart, Iniesta was untouchable - and United could not get close to him.

Pedro - 8
Pedro's currency is goals - and he did not disappoint. Became the first Spaniard to score in a European Cup final for Barca and has an uncanny knack of grabbing crucial strikes.

David Villa - 8
Moved from a central position to wide on the left early on and threatened with a couple of shots before curling home a splendid third in the second half to wrap it up.

Lionel Messi - 10
A performance worthy not just of the world's best footballer, but one of the greatest that has ever lived. Irresistible all evening, United couldn't get anywhere near him, as they proved by giving him the freedom of the park to score Barca's second.

Subs:

Seydou Keita (on for Villa, 86 mins) - 6
In any other team in the world, the superb Mali midfielder would start every game.

Carles Puyol (on for Alves, 88 mins) - 6
The club captain, their heart and soul. Unlucky not to start, but will enjoy every minute of the triumph nevertheless.

Ibrahim Afellay (on for Pedro, 90 mins) - 6
Dutch winger got a few seconds - probably as thanks for teeing Messi up to score their first in the semi-final first leg in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid.

... Both the team’s style of play and its work ethos bears the personal stamp of club coach Pep Guardiola, himself a former footballer whose bygone Barca team was, until May 28, considered by a majority of fans to be the greatest in history. Guardiola has been the first to admit that he owes much of his expertise to Johan Cruyff, the Dutchman who coached Barca to its first-ever European Cup trophy in 1992 with a dream-team combination of foreign stars and homegrown talent. Cruyff is credited with introducing Barca to the concept of “total football,” which he learned as a player with the Dutch champions Ajax, who won three consecutive European Cups between 1971 and ’73. Cruyff’s versatile system had, at its heart, the so-called central axis: the center forward and a free central midfielder were in constant contact as if connected by an invisible cord. Remaining static was not an option. The system was designed to produce a seamless rhythm of attack in which all 11 players, including the goalkeeper, were responsible for keeping the ball moving forward. Guardiola improved upon and finessed Cruyff’s total football, and the fruits of his labor were more than evident in Barca’s win against United.

So just how great is Barca? Cruyff himself has admitted the current team surpasses his ’92 dream team. But how does it stack up against the other greatest teams of all time?

At club level, if Barca’s enduring enemy, Real Madrid, refuses to be daunted, it is because they have their own track record as one of most successful clubs in international soccer. While Guardiola has won two European Cups in his three years as a coach, Real Madrid won five consecutive European Cup trophies between 1956 and ’60. Real’s then-president Santiago Bernabéu—a political conservative but a visionary when it came to soccer—was the first to put together a team of foreign superstars supplemented by talented locals. The quality of his team was epitomized by the flair and aggression of the Argentine Alfredo Di Stefano and his partner in attack, the Hungarian Ferenc Puskás. Between them, the two players scored seven goals in Real Madrid’s crushing victory over German champions Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960, regarded at the time, and for many years thereafter, as the best European Cup final ever....

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