The Barça squad have tremendous respect for this Manchester United outfit, a team that havereached 3 of the last 4 Champions League Finals and caused Barça a lot of problems during the first half of the 2009 Final in Rome. But two players mainly occupy the thoughts of Josep Guardiola’s team. They are Wayne Rooney and Chicharito Hernández, the United references in attack, with permission from Berbatov, top goalscorer in the Premier League, who looks likely to be on the bench on Saturday.

Villa, one of the Barça forwards, best explained the virtues of Rooney and Hernández: "They are exceptional players, both of them. They are very different but complementary. They’ve had a great season, but we have every confidence in our defense". Javier Mascherano, former Liverpool player who knows United really well, agrees: "Chicharito gives them depth. Rooney, possession".

United have a lot more to offer than just Rooney and Chicharito Hernandez. It is a team that have played together for many years and do many things automatically. "They have a really strong team and are great in all positions", said Alves. "They have a block that’s been together for many years and know what to do from memory" Villa emphasised. Iniesta also avoided naming names and spoke about the strength of United's group: "Every player is important to United. They all are internationals and important in their countries teams. Park is just another player in a fantastic team. We’ll try to minimize their strengths".

Villa, however, emphasized their possession game, a possible key to the Final: "They’re a team that likes to keep the ball, and won’t try to destroy our game, but build theirs. Whoever keeps the ball will be part of the way to winning the Final". Busquets agreed: "We are two teams with a defined style, we like to have the ball. Both teams want to have it. When we don’t have the ball, both teams work hard to get it back". Busquets believes that Alex Ferguson has a "very offensive" team, but perhaps he’ll put out a more defensive side than normal.