A LONG AWAITED EXPERIENCE: BARCELONA v MANCHESTER UNITED (a review)

     Despite considering myself one of the biggest fans of European football this side of the Atlantic, I have been desperately deprived of viewing a high-level game in the flesh. My spectating of Mexico v Guatemala this summer gave me a taste of what the beautiful game looked like when displayed right before my eyes, but this weekends' events truly gave me a glimpse of football at the peak of it's theatrical value. My girlfriend (and sole reason for attending the event) and I spent the past weekend in Washington DC, and capped off the stay with a swealtering, sardine-esque packed Metro out to Fed Ex field to see Manchester United take on FC Barcelona in perhaps the most highly anticipated game of the 2011-2012 pre-season. Much to my delight, United ran out 2-1 victors.

 

      For me, the experience of the game was utterly satisfying in two ways. For one, I was able to view the team that I have supported most fervently since I was about 8 years old, and I felt that this was an experience I absolutely needed to partake in to be a true fanatic. Secondly, I needed to be at this game to be able to gain a fervent grasp on the ridiculous speed at which modern day, top level games are played at. Luckily for me, I was seated only 11 rows away from the pitch, which provided me a perfect view to be positively amazed by the play before me. I am more amazed now than ever at the abilities of superstar footballers, and even before this game I was one to speak about great players in impassioned hyperbole. Now I would be at a loss for words if asked about the abilities of the Manchester and Barcelona stars, respectively...

     I spent much of the 90 minutes attempting to analyze the players of Manchester United, for I am more familiar with and a bigger fan of United than Barca. All in all, I was fairly impressed with the counter-attack style, fast paced play of Manchester which was spearheaded by a lively and at times untouchable Louis Nani. Between Nani, the impressive Danny Welbeck, and a single moment of cool finishing by the aging Michael Owen, I was treated to two goals of very high quality by my treasured team. On a less positive note, I was fairly unimpressed by Rooney's largely uneventful and poor-touch plagued performance. On the field for only the first half, Rooney huffed and puffed with trademark enthusiasm, yet displayed a lack of 'hold-up play' capability that sometimes hampers United when both he and Chicharito Hernandez are on the field together. Being one of my heroes, I desperately wished to see Rooney in fine form live. I would imagine he will fair better once the Premier League season begins, especially as until this point he had had a very good preseason.

 

    On the other side of the ball, United's back four of Evra, Vidic, Evans and Fabio (his twin brother Rafael being replaced early in the first half) managed to keep Barcelona without a single shot on goal for the first 45 minutes. Evra in particular was fabulous, as I would hope he would be given that I was wearing his replica jersey while cheering ravenously in the crowd. However, the truly standout performance from United's back-line, and indeed perhaps the whole squad (outside of Nani), came from substitute Chris Smalling, who came on for Evra at the halfway mark. Smalling displayed pace and a touch that I simply did not believe he had while observing him during United's 2010-11 campaign. He shut down the left side of Barcelona's three pronged attack quite impressively for almost the entirety of the second half. Finally, I also believe that young Tom Cleverly deserves some plaudits for his all-action display in United's midfield. Deployed first alongside Anderson, and then Ryan Giggs, Cleverly looked every bit the able Premier League midfielder as Sir Alex Ferguson's praise has suggested.

     

     On the other half of the beautiful Fed Ex Field turf, an extremely young Barcelona side displayed some preseason jitters, but that certainly was to be expected for a squad that doesn't play a competitive game for another 3 weeks. I was hugely impressed, though, by the technicality and speed of Andres Iniesta and Pedro in attack, and David Villa had some deft touches as well. However, the real star of the Barca squad, and indeed of the entire match, was wünderkind midfielder Thiago Silva. Along with scoring an absolute laser-beam of a goal in the second half, Silva had only a single turnover the entire match, and displayed an array of passes and touches that are rarely seen from anyone else outside of his compatriot Xavi Hernandez. Ultimately however, despite their mesmeric possession and technical superiority, Barca was dogged by a lack of reserve from a very inexperienced back four which lead to their eventual defeat.

     All in all, the game was absolutely fantastic to watch. Myself and the rest of the crowd of over 81,000 was treated to a much better and more competitive game than a 'preseason friendly' might suggest. I saw my favorite team on the planet win, the best team on the planet (at least now) play against them, and watched some of the greatest players to ever to grace a football pitch ply their trade. What a wonderful weekend, indeed.

PS: Absolutely gutted that Chicharito, Messi and Xavi didn't play. Would've really been icing on the cake to see my favorite player, and two of the best players of all time live on the field together before me.