Dimitar Berbatov. -File Photo

LONDON: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has heaped praise on Dimitar Berbatov’s approach to pre-season training following the agony of missing out on a place in May’s Champions League final.

Many observers predicted Berbatov had played his last game for the club after being left out of United’s squad for the match with Barcelona, with the Bulgarian refusing to watch the game from the stands as a result.

Ferguson said he would have sympathised with Berbatov had he sought a move during the close season – but said the striker had shown a renewed determination during pre-season training.

“What I have to say though is he (Berbatov) has been brilliant, first class,” Ferguson told The Guardian.

“His training has been terrific. Missing out on the final was not easy, but there were seven or eight players disappointed at not being involved in it.”

Asked if he would understand if Berbatov had attempted to force a move, Ferguson replied: “Yes, I’d understand that.

“But you could say that about them all. I don’t pick the same team every week, do I? I’ve only done that once in the last three years.

“Yes, players will be disappointed they are not playing some weeks. But at the end of the day, it will help [the team]. By the time we get to the end of May next season, we will have done well.”

Ferguson said the decision to favour Javier Hernandez over Berbatov for the Wembley final had been a no-brainer.

“It was straightforward, as far as I’m concerned. Chicharito (Javier Hernandez) hit such good form that you had to put him in for every game because he added so much in terms of threatening defenders all the time,” he said.

“It was just unfortunate for Berbatov. It didn’t make him a bad player, he was just an unlucky player in that this lad came in and did so well. But he will be all right.”

The 30-year-old former Bulgaria captain has been strongly linked with a move away from Old Trafford but he said he was determined to fight to regain his place.—File photo by AFP

 SOFIA: Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has no plans to leave the club despite the huge disappointment of being left out of the squad for the Champions League final against Barcelona on Saturday.

The 30-year-old former Bulgaria captain has been strongly linked with a move away from Old Trafford but he said he was determined to fight to regain his place.

“I’m a Manchester United player and I’ll be glad to fulfil my contract,” Berbatov told Bulgarian 24 Chasa daily.

“Everyone is going through some difficulties but I’ve always been fighting for a regular place and I’ll continue fighting for it. I never gave up in my life.

“On July 4 everything begins all over again, the battle for the cups, the battle for the regular places.”

Berbatov revealed that he watched the Champions League final on TV in the dressing room.

“I was disappointed,” said Berbatov. “I was ashamed that I was left out of the squad.

“And that’s why I didn’t want people to see how sad I was…because I can’t hide my emotions.

“I preferred to stay on my own in the dressing room.

Berbatov joined United from Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 for a club record fee of 30.75 million pounds ($50.44 million) but soon came under fire from British media and United supporters after failing to reproduce his scoring form.

“I had many happy moments with United,” said Berbatov. “We won the 19th title and I became the league’s top scorer.

“I’m very proud of it. I came to England from a little country and I know that during every training session, during every game I have to be better that the others because I’m a foreigner.

“To be the top scorer in England is just fantastic.

“They’re all precious,” Berbatov replied when asked about his most valuable goal of the season.

“But, of course, I can’t skip the Liverpool hat-trick. To score three goals against Liverpool is a great achievement and the fans always remind me about it, so I just can’t forget this one.”

Michael Owen signed a contract extension and Berbatov knows it will be another tough season for him.

“Manchester United is the biggest step for me,” he said.

“Everything beyond United is a step back.”

FC Barcelona players celebrate their victory in winning the Champions League. -AP Photo

BARCELONA: Barcelona’s Europe-conquering heroes paraded in an open-top, double-decker bus through cheering, packed streets on Sunday and arrived to a roar of welcome at a bursting Camp Nou stadium.

Brandishing the Champions League trophy from their sublime 3-1 victory over Manchester United in London’s Wembley stadium, players made a victorious entry one by one to their home pitch.

The bigggest cheer from the 98,000-capacity crowd erupted for man-of-the-match Lionel Messi, who scored the second goal.

“Actually, I have nothing to say to you,” said Messi, famed as a man of few words.

“Simply, let’s enjoy all this. Thank you for this season. And I hope we will be able to enjoy a lot more.”

French international Eric Abidal, who has recovered from surgery to remove a liver tumour only two months ago, thanked captain Carles Puyol for allowing him the honour of receiving the trophy in Wembley.

“Thanks to the captain for his gesture. It was the best day of my career,” he said.

Defender Gerard Pique chose the venue to hit out at a slew of allegations against the team in the past season, some made by arch rivals Real Madrid, who they defeated to take the league title.

“We don’t take drugs. We don’t take dives. And we don’t buy referees. We just play football,” said Pique.

The team landed from London just a few hours earlier in Barcelona-El Prat airport.

Accompanied by the deafening blast of Brazilian samba music and cheered by thousands of fans under a baking hot sun, the heroes weaved through the city in their bus, decked out in Barcelona’s red and blue and the word “Champions” on the sides.

Wearing t-shirts emblazoned “CHA-MPI-ONS”, coach Joseph Guardiola and his men were driven past the city’s statue of Chrisopher Columbus, thronged with fans, some clinging on to the memorial for a better view.

David Villa, who scored the third goal, could be seen spraying team mates with canned beer. Andres Iniesta leaned over the top of the bus to snap pictures.

“Messi, Messi, throw me a shirt,” shouted one young fan. His friend carried a girl on his shoulders and, as the bus moved through the palm-lined streets, he instructed her: “Throw a kiss to Messi.”

A few paces in front of the bus, Catalan mounted police paraded in red full-dress uniform.

In the previous night’s festivities, 50,000 people turned out and police said they detained 84 people for throwing objects, damaging bus shelters and other street furniture, public disorder or attacking police.

Around 130 people were injured during the all-night celebrations, most of them lightly, a local emergency services spokeswoman said early Sunday.

Thirty-seven police were among the injured.

On Sunday, Barcelona players avoided repeated the embarrassing slip-of-the-hands of Real Madrid’s defender Sergio Ramos.

Ramos infamously let the national footballing trophy, the King’s Cup, slide from his grasp in April 21 celebrations in the Spanish capital, whereupon it was run over and crushed into pieces by the team bus.

Pique said earlier on Twitter he would go with his team mates to finish the night’s celebrations at a concert by his girlfriend Shakira, who is playing in Barcelona.

Van der Sar announced earlier this season that he would hang up his gloves at the end of the campaign and he was forced to bow out on a low note as Barca tore United to shreds at Wembley. -AFP Photo

LONDON: Edwin van der Sar admitted Barcelona had ruined his final fling as the Manchester United goalkeeper’s last match before retirement ended in a 3-1 defeat in the Champions League final. 

Van der Sar announced earlier this season that he would hang up his gloves at the end of the campaign and he was forced to bow out on a low note as Barca tore United to shreds at Wembley. 

The 40-year-old Dutchman’s last career memory will be a bitter one as he was beaten three times by fine finishes from Pedro, Lionel Messi and David Villa. 

“I played one game too many I think, it is not nice to lose of course. They had the better chances and we made one or two mistakes and they punish you,” Van der Sar said.

“It was disappointing but that’s life. It would have been better to go out on a win.

“I’m all right, not emotional. This is the right time for me and I’m ok with it.”

Van der Sar felt Messi’s goal nine minutes into the second half was the turning point as it left United chasing the game against superior opponents.

“It took twenty minutes for them to get in game and then after our equaliser and going in level at half time you hope game is still open, but we didn’t start well and we conceded another goal,” Van der Sar said.

“It turned in their favour. You can stop them, they have lost this season, but they have excellent players and it didn’t happen tonight.”

Van der Sar was criticised for his positioning and reactions as he dived late to try to stop Messi’s long-range strike, but the veteran insisted he did nothing wrong.

“I thought I was positioned well,” he said. “He tends to curl it into the far post but he didn’t.”

After a superb career with Ajax, Juventus, Fulham and United, Van der Sar plans to take some time away from the game.

He will relax with his family for a while and then return to England to do his coaching badges, but he has no doubts that it will be hard to get used to life without the thrill of playing.

“I’ll go on holiday now. I will probably take a year out, go to games with friends in normal situations, maybe play golf,” he said.

“It’s going to be very hard but I exceeded my expectations by about three years. I’m quite relaxed. Shit happens.”

The Spanish champions threw coach Pep Guardiola in the air and cut out the net from one of the Wembley goals as they celebrated winning a fourth European Cup. -Reuters Photo

LONDON: Barcelona’s players were overjoyed to have shown off their dazzling brand of football to win the Champions League on Saturday with a performance that left even opponents Manchester United spellbound. 

The Spanish champions threw coach Pep Guardiola in the air and cut out the net from one of the Wembley goals as they celebrated winning a fourth European Cup with a mesmerising display of their fantastic passing game in a 3-1 victory. 

“The people watching could see that we not only won but we played a brilliant match,” Guardiola told Spanish television. 

“I feel privileged to have these players,” Guardiola said after goals from Pedro, Messi and David Villa gave the Catalans a second Champions League final win over United in three seasons.          

“I don’t feel like the boss of them. So many people have worked so hard to achieve this and I congratulate everyone.”    

Guardiola confirmed that he would stay on as coach for at least one more season, but as ever refused to commit himself any further. 

Defender Javier Mascherano agreed, telling Sky television: “We are happy because we played in the way we know to play.” 

United manager Alex Ferguson reckoned his side had been beaten by “the best team we have faced” and there could be no humiliation in losing. 

“From time to time you come up against a team far better than you and tonight was that night,” Ferguson told ITV television. 

“They are at a tremendous peak in the cycle of their team. There are teams that elevate themselves to that status. 

“Today we were beaten by the best team in Europe and there is no shame in that.” 

Hot favourites for the title from the start of the season, Barca were thrilled to have lived up to expectations and win a trophy Guardiola said required “a hell of a lot of effort”. 

“We knew the potential we had and we just had to make the most of it,” forward David Villa, who scored an 18-metre curler for Barca’s third goal, told Spanish television. 

“It’s been a great deal of work… To be happier right now would be impossible.” 

The trophy was lifted by fullback Eric Abidal, who was handed the honour by captain Carles Puyol after the Frenchman’s recovery from surgery on a liver tumour in March. 

“Three months ago, Abidal had a cancer and he suffered and (so did) his family,” Guardiola told ITV. 

“He recovered and I think we all showed, his team mates, to the club and to the rest of the world, the level of the human being that is this guy. As coach it is a privilege to train these guys.” 

BETTER SIDE 

United, outplayed for so much of the game, could have no complaints but took some comfort from giving a better account of themselves than in their defeat by Barca in the 2009 final. 

“I think we gave it a better shot than we did last time,” centre back Rio Ferdinand told Sky. 

“Although the scoreline was 3-1 we did have quite a few opportunities… but it wasn’t to be. You’ve certainly got to give credit to them, they were the better side on the night.

He added his team could have dealt better with a couple of the goals but that the “sucker punch” had been Lionel Messi’s strike early in the second half that pulled Barcelona ahead. 

“They are a great side, great players, they have a way of playing they all know. It was up to us to combat that and we didn’t do that,” he told ITV. 

United captain Nemanja Vidic said his side had not dealt with Barca’s devastating movement on the ball. 

“We didn’t do what we should have done, we shouldn’t have given them time on the ball which they had,” he said.

“When they have time on the ball, the final pass is easy.” 

Mascherano rubbed salt in United’s wounds by dedicating the win to fans of his former club Liverpool – United’s arch rivals. 

“After my exit they (Liverpool fans) were a little sad with me but this is for them as well,” he said.

Shakira will treat the Barcelona players to a concert. -Reuters Photo

BARCELONA: Barcelona’s players will go to a Shakira concert in Barcelona on Sunday to celebrate their Champions League victory, the Colombian pop star’s boyfriend, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique, said on Twitter. 

“Champions!! Champions!! thank you so much!!” Pique wrote on his Twitter account Saturday after a thilling 3-1 win over Manchester United in London’s Wembley Stadium. 

“Tomorrow at Barcelona and then the players will go to @shakira concert in the Olympic Stadium!!” 

The 24-year-old Pique, a former Manchester United player, met the singer last year while shooting the video to her song “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” – the official track of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which was won by Spain. 

In January Shakira, 34, announced the end of her 11-year relationship with Argentine lawyer Antonio de la Rua and shortly after gossip magazines began speculating that she was dating Pique. 

The singer confirmed her romantic relationship with the Spanish international footballer in March through a message posted on her Twitter account that was accompanied by a photo of the smiling pair. 

Shakira, a four-time Grammy award winner, is playing in Barcelona on Sunday as part of her “Sale el sol (The sun is coming out)” tour, which takes her to a string of Spanish venues including Madrid on June 3.

Barcelona players celebrate with the trophy. -AFP Photo

LONDON: Pep Guardiola may deny all comparisons with the past but the breathtaking display of his Barcelona prodigies in the Champions League final has confirmed the elevation of his team into the football stratosphere.

Their 3-1 demolition of English Premier League champions Manchester United at Wembley, of all places, was a masterful demonstration of football played at the most sublime level.

Barcelona coach Guardiola, collecting his second Champions League crown in three years, has produced a team of talents who can now stand comparison with those wonder sides of the past – Real Madrid, Ajax Amsterdam and AC Milan.

In United, Barcelona had opponents who are hardly nobodies.

This was their third Champions League final in four years, they have just won the Premier League by nine points and they boast in Wayne Rooney one of the best players in the world.

Yet United, in a Wembley stadium with ‘home’ fans far outnumbering Catalan followers, could manage just 37 percent possession, muster only one shot on goal and not earn a single corner, so much did they fall under the spell of Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and their supporting cast. 

It was the most comprehensively magical display in a European final since AC Milan trounced Barcelona 4-0 17 years ago in Athens. 

When Barca play the way they did on Saturday it is hard to imagine any team surviving their onslaught. The close control in tight situations, swift inter-passing movement and clever working of spaces to create chances are simply devastating. 

They force opposition fans to look on with jaws dropped in admiration of football played at a level of skill and sophistication one would not even dare dream about.

Beaten Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson acknowledged their pre-eminence. 

“In my time as manager I’d say they are the best team I’ve faced.” he said. “Nobody’s given us a hiding like that but they deserve it because they play the right way and they enjoy their football.” 

Barcelona certainly play with a joy which echoes the truly great teams of the past. 

SIMILAR VERVE 

The Real Madrid side which won the first five editions of the European Cup between 1956 and 1960, culminating in a 7-3 thrashing of Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1960 final, played with similar verve. 

Ferenc Puskas scored four and Alfredo Di Stefano three that day in a display of attacking flair which set a benchmark for European club football. 

Ajax, with Johan Cruyff in his pomp and Johan Neeskens in close support, were the next great team to enchant neutral fans with three consecutive European titles in the early 1970s. 

Their “Total Football”, which saw players constantly switching position and mesmerising opponents, was a spectacular tactical innovation which changed the game forever. 

The AC Milan side which won the European Cup in 1989 and 1990 is probably the only team since to inspire the same kind of awe. That side, built around the Dutch trio of Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, matched skill and athleticism to produce classic entertainment. 

Barcelona have still to amass the titles of these illustrious predecessors. Competition is undoubtedly tougher these days and it is notable that no team has ever won the Champions League twice in succession since it was introduced in the 1992-93 season. 

But Barca have now won two of the last three European titles and three in six seasons and it would be rash to think that Messi, at just 23, will have stopped inspiring his team to collect ever more trophies.

Barcelona’s team celebrate with the trophy after winning their Champions League final soccer match against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium in London May 28, 2011. – Reuters Photo

LONDON: Barcelona, inspired by the peerless Lionel Messi, delivered a masterclass to overwhelm Manchester United 3-1 in the Champions League final and lift the European Cup for the fourth time on Saturday.

Messi was at his inspirational best all night at Wembley as the champions of Spain left the champions of England looking like desperate also-rans in the face of their relentless intricate passing and deadly movement.

United somehow reached halftime level at 1-1 after Wayne Rooney cancelled out Pedro’s opening goal but Barcelona continued their dominance after the break.

A superb Messi goal and a precise 18-metre curler by David Villa, underlined the Spanish side’s dominance over the team they also beat in the 2009 final.

After a short-lived United flurry at the start, Barca were soon in control as they probed constantly in and around the United box.

UNITED UNDONE

Although the English side kept them at bay with a series of last-ditch tackles they were eventually undone in the 27th minute when Xavi cleverly delayed a pass to open space for Pedro to calmly tuck the ball beyond Edwin van der Sar.

United looked almost out of their depth but showed why they have reached three finals in the last four seasons by conjuring a well-made equaliser after 34 minutes.

Rooney played a one-two with Michael Carrick then another with Ryan Giggs before sweeping the ball high into the net.

Messi was millimetres away from a second goal after another high-speed give and go with Villa but somehow United reached halftime on level terms.

The parity on the scoreboard was short-lived though as Barca immediately regained control and, after more near misses, duly went ahead in the 54th minute.

United’s defenders made the fatal error of standing off Messi on the edge of the box and the Argentine maestro took full advantage driving the ball in low for the 53rd and most important goal of his remarkable season.

It was Messi who set up the third too as he surged into the box and, though the ball was half-cleared, it went straight to Villa who killed it instantly before curling a superb 18-metre shot into the top corner.

The venue of the 2011 Champions League final. -AFP Photo

LONDON: Barcelona and Manchester United clash in the Champions League final at Wembley on Saturday (1845 GMT) to decide who are the undisputed kings of Europe.

The Spanish and English league champions are seeking to lift the trophy for the fourth time to join Bayern Munich and Ajax Amsterdam, with only Liverpool (five), AC Milan (seven) and Real Madrid (nine) ahead of them in the roll of honour.

Both teams were set on their way at the old Wembley, with United beating Benfica in 1968 to become the first English team to win the trophy and Barca, with current manager Pep Guardiola in their lineup, beating Sampdoria at the stadium in 1992.

United won again in 1999 and 2008 while Barcelona also triumphed in 2006 and 2009 when they beat United 2-0 in a disappointing final in Rome.

Despite the game taking place on English soil, Barca start as slight favourites having cut a swathe to the final with their mesmeric midfield passing and the deadly finishing of Lionel Messi, who has 52 goals in all competitions this season.

United, who beat the Spaniards in the semi-finals in 2008, will look to the power of Wayne Rooney and the sharpness in front of goal of Mexican revelation Javier Hernandez while hoping retiring 40-year-old goalkeeper Edin van der Sar keeps one more clean sheet in the final game of his career.