SIR ALEX FERGUSON slammed his Manchester United side’s "shoddy defending" after their dreams of making history were shattered when they were beaten 2-0 by Barcelona in the Champions League final at the Stadio Olimpico.
Goals from Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi gave the Spanish side their third Champions Cup and stopped United from becoming the first club to retain the trophy in its current format.
But it was the first goal after nine minutes when Eto’o was allowed to turn inside Nemanja Vidic and plant a right-foot shot past goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar which angered Ferguson in particular.
Ferguson said: "In our best performances this season we have defended very well, but the defending tonight was shoddy.
"The first goal didn’t help. It gave them the opportunity to keep possession. We didn’t plan to lose a goal early and we didn’t deal with it well enough. That was the story. To lose a goal like that was a bad goal. It was a disappointing performance and some individuals will feel it themselves."
Ferguson threw on Carlos Tevez for Anderson and Dimitar Berbatov for Ji-Sung Park in a bid to turn around the match in the second-half but United’s hopes were shattered when Xavi Hernandez crossed for Messi to send a looping header beyond the reach of Van der Sar for his ninth goal in the competition this season.
Xavi also struck a post and Thierry Henry and Carles Puyol brought fine saves from van der Sar as Barcelona ran out convincing winners.
Ferguson claimed he was not surprised with the way Barcelona approached the game, even when they swapped Messi from a wide position up front into midfield.
And he put the blame for the loss squarely on his own players.
Ferguson said: "The disappointment was the use of the ball when we got possession. You have to wait minutes to get it back off them. Could be it was an off night. Could be it was a mountain too big to climb.
"We knew what a good football team they were. We had difficulty in defending against them. Messi dropped into midfield and they kept possession and made it difficult for us."
Cristiano Ronaldo collected a yellow card for a foul on Puyol and it was a disappointing match for the United winger who went close with a couple of long- range shots but too often let his exasperation get the better of him.
Ferguson also admitted United missed the protective presence of Darren Fletcher in midfield who was suspended after being sent off harshly against Arsenal in the semi-final.
"He is one big-game player," said Ferguson.
"It was a loss but they had losses also. And it is difficult to measure how big a loss it was.
"We’ve done well to get to the final, but we had to win it. It was a big opportunity for us. With the players we have we expected better, but losing the first goal was decisive for us. We couldn’t recover from that."
Ferguson, however, was generous in his praise of Barcelona and their manager, Pep Guardiola, who also won the Champions League as a player with Barcelona.
