Analysis For Barcelona, It’s Control, Concentration and Conquest

" FIRST OF ALL BARCA 2 - 0 MAN U "

But on Wednesday at the Olympic Stadium here, the team that did that was Barcelona. Its coach, Pep Guardiola, in his first season guiding the team, has produced a collective control and concentration that won the Spanish League, the Spanish Cup and now the greatest prize in world club soccer.

The 38-year-old Guardiola has barely graduated to management. Yet he has steeled Barcelona with a team ethic that was lacking last year.

“Watching my players,” Guardiola said a month ago, “give me goose bumps.”

He was not talking only about their skill. He was talking about the physical effort that the Barcelona players — even the most gifted ones — would put in to win a game.

Sir Alex knew it was there. In the weeks leading up to this 2-0 showpiece finale, he said, “All the great players, like Messi, have an element of courage that elevates them above everyone else — as well as outstanding ability.”

He was referring to Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, the smallest man on the field, who found true elevation in the 70th minute of this match. When Xavi Hernández made an exquisite crossing pass, Messi slid between Rio Ferdinand and John O’Shea.

In size, they dwarfed Messi. In skill and timing, Messi dwarfed them. He rose, using his right temple to head the ball and guide it beyond the reach of goaltender Edwin van der Sar.

The Barcelona goal was a textbook example of control and concentration. Xavi provided the control, Messi the concentration.

It was actually a familiar role for Xavi, the controller of the Spanish team that last summer won Euro 2008 — the first major trophy in Spanish history in 44 years. Xavi guides the team, influences its rhythm and makes great players play.

His chief accomplice is Andres Iniesta. On Barcelona’s first goal, Iniesta burst through from midfield like a turbo engine going full blast and spotted Samuel Eto’o.

A smooth, knife-like pass gave Eto’o the opportunity to slice open Manchester’s defense. Too quick for Nemanja Vidic, and then too smart for Michael Carrick, Eto’o stabbed the ball toward the goal. Van der Sar could get a touch, but he was beaten.

That, 10 minutes in, was Barcelona’s first attack of the night. Manchester had started the game with the confidence and élan of a champion. But Barcelona was just warming to its task, Xavi just beginning to exercise control and concentration.

The interchange between the front three attackers — Messi, Eto’o and Thierry Henry — pulled Manchester’s defense apart. Ryan Giggs and Anderson, the old and the young of United, failed to come to grips with Iniesta and Xavi.

Manchester looked like men trying to catch bars of soap. If space was closed in one spot, Barcelona players popped up in another. If Manchester tried to tackle one man, someone else moved into unseen territory.

Seven members of Barcelona’s starting lineup on Wednesday came through the academy that nestles besides the team’s stadium. They know where to pass and where to run.

Last month the British news media — often cheerleaders for United — accused Barcelona of being a side too ornate and too brittle. “They don’t like it up ’em!” was the battle cry.

But Barcelona showed that it liked it just fine on Wednesday. Fans who could get a ticket warmed to a night of fine soccer.

The game was not a battle of superstars, although Messi won hands down over Manchester’s Cristiano Ronaldo. It was not even about the goals, though they were excellent. The game was about a team that arrived with a weakened defense, but played with control and concentration to overcome its losses.

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