MANCHESTER United fans saw a repeat of history at the New Wembley Stadium as their team was left chasing Barcelona’s shadow in a European Cup final. Pep Guardiola’s men produced another scintillating display of beautiful football to outclass the English Champions on home soil with a deserved 3-1 victory.

The Catalan Club again staked their claim to be the best footballing side in history with the magnitude of their dominance and victory over United to lift the Champions League for the second time in three years.

Barca’s front three all got on the scoresheet as the Spanish champions saw off their English counterparts to collect the trophy and seal their place in history. In what proved to be a one-sided affair, Pedro gave the Catalan giants the early advantage only for Wayne Rooney to cancel out his strike. Following the break, Lionel Messi and David Villa took centre stage, adding their names to the scoresheet in style for a commanding win.

The first half began at a frenetic pace, with Manchester United enjoying the best of the early exchanges as they did in the ’09 final. However, Barca eventually found their rhythm and settled into an all too familiar pattern of enjoying possession while United attempted to keep them at bay.

With such dominance being exhibited by Barca, a breakthrough was inevitable, and Pedro duly delivered in the 27th-minute. Xavi flicked a pass into the path of the winger, who coolly slotted inside Van der Sar’s near post for a well-deserved lead.

Against the run of play, United pulled level with a strike from their talismanic frontman Wayne Rooney. Interplay between Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney led to the ball reaching Ryan Giggs, who fed Rooney the ball. The England striker kept his head to curl the ball across Victor Valdes and into the corner to haul United back into the game or so he thought.

The half-time interval came with both sides level and provided some rest-bite for the chasing Red Devils.

The second half witnessed continuous wave after wave of attacks from Barca and on 54 minutes, a static United defence allowed Messi space to approach the area and rifle a shot that swerved and beat a diving Van der Sar. The goal was his 12th of Champions League and equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record total in the competition.

Barca maintained the momentum as Messi, Xavi and Iniesta all tested Van der Sar from range. With 20 minutes remaining, Barcelona sealed United’s faith as David Villa scored arguably the goal of the match when he curled his shot superbly from the edge of the area beyond the despairing reach of goalkeeper Van der Sar.

From then on, Barca was content and saw out the victory to clinch the famous trophy for the fourth time in their history. Paul Scholes was handed a touching cameo but likely, the last game in the Manchester United legend’s career will be remembered for Barcelona’s brilliance in claiming a fourth European crown.