FC Barcelona and Manchester United will meet in the 2011 Champions League Final on May 28th at Wembley Stadium – the 11th time the two teams have met in Europe and the 8th game between them in the Champions League.
Second meeting set for July
The two Clubs have another game on the horizon after their Wembley date, having previously agreed
to play in the World Football Challenge 2011 in Landover, Maryland on
July 30th.
After seeing off Real Madrid and Schalke 04 in the semi finals, Josep Guardiola and Alex Ferguson
are set to meet again in a Champions League final – and this time it’s at Wembley, an
iconic stadium for both clubs, where they both won their first European Cups: Manchester in 1968
and Barça in 1992.
Rome final
This year’s final will be a repeat of the 2009 match up in Rome when Barça
beat United 2-0, thanks to goals from Eto’o i Messi to take their third ever European Cup.
The game will also be the 11th time the two have met in continental competitions, having played
each other 3 times in the Cup Winners Cup and 8 times in the Champions League.
United win in 1984
The first game between the two was in the quarter finals of the 1983/84 Cup Winners
Cup. Although Barça won 2-0 in the first leg at the Camp Nou, United turned the tie round in the
return leg, winning 3-0 to reach the semi finals.
First European Final
The two met again in the same competition in the final of the 1990/91 edition in
Rotterdam, when United again came out top, beating Barça 2-1. This was the first European final
played between the two, with another to follow in 2009 and this year’s clash at Wembley set
to be the third.
1994/95: Barça win at group stage
Since that night in Rotterdam, the two have only met in Europe’s top
competition, the Champions League. In the 1994/95 season, Barça reached the quarter finals after
finishing second in the group stage, ahead of United who were eliminated after drawing 2-2 at Old
Trafford and losing 4-0 at the Camp Nou. Barça didn’t get too much further either, losing to
París Saint-Germain in the quarter finals.
Manchester United win trophy at Camp Nou
The two were again paired in the group stage of the 1998/99 competition, and both
at Old Trafford and the Camp Nou, the result was the same – a 3-3 draw. This time it was
United who went through to the next round as group runners up, whilst Barça were eliminated. United
went on to lift the trophy after beating Bayern Munich 2-1 at the Camp Nou.
2007/08 semi-final
In the 2007/08 season, United denied Barça a place in the final by beating them 1-0
at Old Trafford after drawing 0-0 in the first leg of the semi-final in Barcelona. Sir Alex
Ferguson’s team went on to beat Chelsea in a penalty shootout in the final played in Moscow,
to claim their third European Cup win.