Barcelona claim their 4th Champions League title.

By Money Mike

In front of over 86,000 fans at Wembley Stadium and over 300,000,000 viewers around the world watching the match live on TV, Barcelona came out on top with goals by Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and David Villa as they defeat Manchester United 3-1. You look at the final stats and you'll be like, "what the f***!!". Shot attempts; Barcelona - 22, Manchester United - 4. Fouls; Manchester United - 16, Barcelona - 5. Time of Possession; Barcelona - 70%, Manchester United - 30%. You look at the stats and you can definitely say that Manchester United deserved to lose this one.

In the early stages of the match, despite Barcelona having more possession of the ball, Manchester United we're putting a lot of pressure on goalkeeper Victor Valdes and they nearly broke through when Gerard Pique's backpass was nearly taken away by Chicharito Hernandez, but Valdes scrambled to clear the ball out of danger.

In the 15th minute, United got caught and were lucky to get away with it. Xavi with a chip into the danger area which found Pedro, who nipped in at the near post, but his touch just went wide of goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar who was playing in his final game of his career. About five minutes later, David Villa tested van der Sar with a right footed effort from the edge of the area, but van der Sar kept it in front of him, it wasn't easy though.

In the 27th minute, Barcelona drew first blood as Xavi and Pedro hooked up again and this time a settle pass by Xavi did the trick. Xavi got behind Michael Carrick and slotted the ball trough to Pedro, who had plenty of time to set up and strike it low into the near post as van der Sar had no clue where he was going and Barcelona took a 1-0 lead.

In the 33rd minute, Manchester United came right back to level it up. Fabio won the ball after a good challenge on, I believe it was Sergio Busquets and fed it to Wayne Rooney who had room to run at the Barcelona defense. Rooney slotted it to Ryan Giggs who looked to have been in an offside position on the pass, but the linesman kept his flag down and Ryan Giggs fed it back to Rooney at the top of the area for a first time hit into the left corner to level it up at one. Rooney has picked up his game lately and started scoring a lot of goals again after all the criticism early in the season.

In the second half, the equalizer didn't seem to hurt Barcelona as they started to pour a lot of pressure on the Red Devil defense early and often and in the 54th minute, they got rewarded for it.

Andres Iniesta fed the ball to Lionel Messi who took a couple of touches before ripping a low left foot drive through the back line and past Edwin van der Sar to put Barcelona ahead to good. It was Messi's 53rd goal in all compititions this season and his 1st on English soil. 15 minutes later, Barcelona put the match out of reach......

In the 69th minute, David Villa curled a right footed effort over van der Sar and into the back of the net to claim the Champions League title for Barcelona and end all arguements that the Barcelona squad from 2010-2011 are one of the great teams that have ever played the game.

My thoughts on this match:

Now, this isn't the first UEFA Champions League that I've watched, but this is the first UEFA Champions League final that I've watched on live TV. There were a lot of things about this final that were way different than the group stage matches and the knockout round matches. This match was played on a Saturday just a week after the conclusion of the Premier League season, and normally, the Champions League matches are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays which they still are, but starting last season, the final itself was played on a Saturday, but I didn't keep any track of that. I mean I wasn't really paying attention to the schedule, so I ended up missing that match. Before then, the final was played on a Wednesday, so unless I was sick, there would be no way I would catch it live, and watching replays on ESPN Classic were boring because I already knew who won those matches. So, I think it's good that they started scheduling finals on a Saturday. And also, I think this match was worth watching.

Scoring summary:

Barcelona - Pedro Rodriguez (Xavi) 27'

Manchester United - Wayne Rooney (Ryan Giggs) 33'

Barcelona - Lionel Messi (Andres Iniesta) 54'

Barcelona - David Villa (Sergio Busquets) 59'

Misconduct summary:

Barcelona - Dani Alves (caution; Reckless tackle) 60'

Manchester United - Michael Carrick (caution; Reckless tackle) 61'

Manchester United - Antonio Valencia (caution; Barging over an opponent) 79'

Barcelona - Victor Valdes (caution; Delaying a restart) 85'

Lineups:

Barcelona - Victor Valdes; Dani Alves (Carles Puyol 88'), Javier Mascherano, Gerard Pique, Eric Abidal; Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta; Pedro Rodriguez (Ibrahim Afellay 90'), David Villa (Seydou Keita 86'), Lionel Messi

Manchester United - Edwin van der Sar; Fabio (Nani 69'), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra; Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick (Paul Scholes 77'), Ryan Giggs, Park Ji-Sung; Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney

A couple of match previews for Saturday. Sounders vs Real Salt Lake + Manchester United vs Barcelona

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders head to Rio Tinto Stadium to face CONCACAF Champions League runners-up Real Salt Lake, who have still not lost a league match at Rio Tinto during regular season play. Last year, they nearly suffered that first loss against the Sounders in week three when Steve Zakuani and Tyrone Marshall scored for the Sounders, but goals by Will Johnson and Alvaro Saborio kept Salt Lake's unbeaten run in tact. These two sides draw both of their matches last season after each coming away with a split in 2009. Salt Lake's Arturo Alvarez and Alvaro Saborio are both on international duty and won't be with the club this weekend.

Injury report:

Seattle Sounders FC - Really, no new injuries here. Sigi Schmid says Brad Evans will be available for Saturdays match after recovering from a adductor strain

Real Salt Lake - The men out for Real Salt Lake are Javier Morales with a left ankle fracture dislocation and Paulo Jr. with a right hip flexor strain. Danny Toia is listed as questionable with a left ankle sprain. Fabian Espindola has a right hamstring strain and is listed as probable and Collen Warner is also listed as probable with a left ankle sprain.

Key matchups:

Will Johnson vs Osvaldo Alonso - I think this is a real midfield battle between one of the greatest goalscoring midfielders I've seen (Will Johnson) and a guy who has played more of a defensive midfield role (Osvaldo Alonso). I don't see why these two won't be matching up against eachother.

Fredy Montero vs Jamison Olave - Now these two players know each other very well. They're both from Colombia. They both were teammates at Deportivo Cali. And now, these two are matching up against each other again. I think this matchup decides it with Fredy still due for a breakout game.

Manchester United vs Barcelona:

Here's a match that all of you should catch at 11:30am on FOX. Manchester United and Barcelona, the UEFA Champions League final at Wembly Stadium in London, England. I'm definitely watching this match because you have a two teams with lots of firepower on their team, with Lionel Messi, David Villa, Pedro Rodriguez for Barcelona and on the other side with Manchester United, you got Chicharito Hernandez, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Nani and all those guys. So, it's gonna be a busy soccer day, with the Sounders and RSL and Manchester United and Barcelona. We also have the friendly match here in Seattle with Mexico and Ecuador, but won't be able to catch that one, so apologies to all of you that were expecting a recap of that match. The only ones that will be recapped tomorrow are Seattle against Salt Lake and Manchester United against Barcelona.

Premier League, La Liga and Serie A titles have been clinched last week + a lot more. What's going on around the world in soccer? Let's find out.

By Money Mike

So lately I've been talking about the Sounders with the preview's and the recaps, the MLS SuperDraft, the Re-entry draft and I blogged a couple of English soccer matches, but those two were "I was bored out of my mind" type of things. But yeah, we had some big events that happened this week and there will be more of that later this month with the UEFA Champions League Final the international friendly matches including one here in Seattle between Mexico and Ecuador. So how about a we take a trip around the world and see whats been going on in soccer, and with this blog, who needs passports? lol.

England:

So let's start off in England. Manchester United, they have captured their 4th Premier League title in 5 years, their 12th Premier League title which is the most, and their 19th League Title overall which is a new record held by Liverpool who had 18. A 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers secured the title for the Red Devils, they will celebrate their title in the final week of the Season next week at home against Blackpool who are in danger of relegation. And let's talk about that. Going into the final week of the season, there are five teams that will fight to try to stay in the top flight next season. West Ham United were relegated after losing 3-2 to Wigan Athletic and shortly after, they fired head coach Avram Grant which they should've done at the start of January as everybody would've expected. The entire staff has done an awful job handling the team this season and the Hammers just got hammered this season. The fans deserve a lot better than this.

Spain:

Barcelona are La Liga Champions again, this is their 3rd in a row again with rivals Real Madrid coming close, but not close enough. With one game still to go for them in the League, until the Champions League final, I expect them to bench all of their starters unless one of them are suspended for the final because if you lose a key player to injury and you lose the final, fans will just want you fired. Lionel Messi led his team again with 31 goals in La Liga and 52 goals in all competitions. Hercules C.F., who shocked Barcelona on their home ground earlier in the season, are officially relegated this season as well as Almeria. I got a glimpse of the La Liga Fair play table which is sort of a Sportsmanship thing, and you look at it...wow. Real Sociedad have the most pathetic fans in Spain, because of them, Sociedad have been tagged with Altercations four times this season. That's just ridiculous.

Italy:

Going into the 2010-2011 season, Inter Milan have won 5 Italian Serie A titles in a row and were looking to extend their streak to 6. However, with key acquisitions like former Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Kevin-Prince Boateng, A.C. Milan came through and clinced the Serie A title, ending their Arch Rivals streak of 5 in a row. Ibrahimovic, Robinho and Alexandre Pato each finished with 14 goals on the year. Also, you got to say, no Inter Milan fan likes Zlatan Ibrahimovic anymore after playing for A.C. Milan. Kevin-Prince Boateng lit up the celebration with his Michael Jackson dance routine, as seen on the picture. Sampdoria, Brescia and A.S. Bari are relegated and won't be in the Serie A next season. The most embarrasing team in the Serie A is Juventus, they are just getting weak every single year. Especially since returing to the Serie A in 07-08 since being deducted all of their points in 05-06 for a match fixing scandal. They need to start going to their youth system and give the young players a chance to play, not their oldass players like Buffon and Del Piero.

Mexico's 23-man squad for May 28:

So the Mexican national team just announced their squad for their friendly match against Ecuador on May 28 which will take place at Qwest Field in Seattle. My guess is that they'll take the tarp off the upper deck and the bleachers, I don't know for sure. But anyway, the squad includes Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, however he will not make the trip to Seattle for the friendly match because of the Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona, so all of you Chicharito fans, you guys will have to wait till' Manchester United come to town for a friendly match with the Seattle Sounders. Let's look at the rest of the squad......

Goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (Club America, Mexico), Alfredo Talavera (Toluca, Mexico), Jose de Jesus Corona (Cruz Azul, Mexico)

Defenders: Rafa Marquez (New York Red Bulls, MLS), Carlos Salcido (Fulham, England), Hector Moreno (AZ Alkmaar, Netherlands), Francisco Javier Rodriguez (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Ricardo Osorio (Monterrey, Mexico), Edgar Duenas (Toluca, Mexico), Jorge Torres Nilo (Tigres, Mexico)

Midfielders: Andres Guardado (Deportivo la Coruna, Spain), Efrain Juarez (Celtic, Scotland), Israel Castro (UNAM, Mexico), Sinha (Toluca, Mexico), Luis Perez (Monterrey, Mexico), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul, Mexico), Angel Reyna (Club America, Mexico), Jesus Zavala (Monterrey, Mexico)

Forwards: Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez (Manchester United, England)*, Giovani dos Santos (Racing de Santander, Spain), Pablo Barrera (West Ham United, England), Aldo de Nigris (Monterrey, Mexico), Elias Hernandez (Morelia, Mexico)

* - Won't make the trip to Seattle due to the UEFA Champions League final. Expected to join the national team before the start of the Gold Cup.