There were more questions than answers as FC Barcelona lined up for the start of their first competitive game after the departure of club legend and most successful coach in their history, Pep Guardiola. Over the past four years Barcelona had swept 14 out of 19 possible trophies including breaking a series of records on their way to winning the Spanish league three times and becoming champions of both Europe and the world twice, leading many to proclaim them the greatest football team to ever exist.

Having missed out on the two big prizes last year–the championships of Spain and Europe–amid a spate of injuries and occasionally sloppy performances by their own high standards, and having seen the talisman coach, Guardiola, depart citing the stress of constant pressure to be replaced by his former assistant Tito Vilanova, many doubted the ability of Barcelona to continue to dominate.

This was given further credence by the overpowering performances of eternal rivals, Real Madrid, last season, a young, hungry and athletic side that finally broke Barcelona’s stranglehold on domestic competition last year. However, in Madrid’s opener this season against Valencia immediately preceding the Barcelona game, they had drawn 1-1.

With this context, Barcelona went into their first game of the season against Real Sociedad needing to make a statement. And make one they did. Defender, Carles Puyol, headed Barcelona into the lead in the 4th minute before Chori Castro leveled for Sociedad on nine minutes. This parity would prove to be short-lived, as only 56 seconds later Lionel Messi scored and then scored yet another five minutes afterwards to put Barcelona 3-1 up in only 16 minutes.

Youngster Cristian Tello looked lively throughout, playing an intelligent and vastly improved game, and new signing, Jordi Alba, put in an untiring and dangerous performance from left-back, linking up well in his attack. In a warm night in Catalonia, Pedro Rodriguez, who had been off form much of last season, finished off a chance just before half-time to put the gloss on a great game.

With the game a formality by the beginning of the second half, Barcelona lowered the intensity of their game and introduced David Villa, who had missed most of last season due to his injury, to a rapturous reception by the Camp Nou crowd.

Villa duly marked his return to competitive play with a sharp performance and a well-struck goal in the 84th minute to cap off a result that sent out a statement, heading into Thursday’s Supercopa match against Real Madrid, to the rest of Europe for the season to come: don’t write off this Barcelona side just yet.

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The current Champions League holders drew a blank on Italian soil, as both teams failed to break down stubborn defenses in Milan. Barcelona will hold a slight advantage with the second leg at the Nou Camp, but on a night with few chances, Milan will be disappointed it didn’t make it count.

It was a frantic start. Barcelona looked half asleep, as it gifted the ball to Milan in the opening minutes, culminating in a great chance for Boateng, and an even better chance for Robinho, who volleyed over from no more than six yards. But Lionel Messi was beginning to get into his stride, testing Abbiati from the edge of the box and inter-linking nicely with his teammates.

Last year’s winners had a big appeal for a penalty turned down, when Alexis Sanchez was brought down by Abbiati after a neatly worked free-kick, but the referee waved the shouts away. Barcelona was getting on top though, and had a goal disallowed for offside minutes later, when Messi went too early to meet a Dani Alves cross.

Milan wasn’t taking the pressure lying down though, and almost went ahead, as the ex-Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic ran through on goal but was denied by Victor Valdes. It was a typically fraught encounter between two attack-minded teams, but the away side definitely had the upper hand, as Milan failed to keep possession regularly enough to pose a threat.

The game was evenly poised as half-time approached, the world champions Barcelona threatened with no end product, whilst Milan had the odd opportunity on the counter-attack, but couldn’t find a route to goal.

The second half started much like the first had ended: Barcelona was doing most of the pressing, but Milan had to make a change when Robinho fell awkwardly and was replaced by El Shaarawy. Guardiola was beginning to grow frustrated by the lack of chances being created, and took Andres Iniesta off for youngster Cristian Tello, in hopes of getting a crucial away goal.

Urby Emanuelson was also thrown into the action with twenty minutes to go, and instead of the game becoming stretched, defenses tightened, as Milan looked even more likely to sit back and soak up the pressure, frustrating Barcelona further, as the 2011 winners failed to find a way through the stubborn defense.

As the clock ticked down, so did the chances of either team grabbing a crucial lead to take back to Spain. Messi came closest, forcing a good save from Abbiati, and Tello was denied by a last ditch block from Ambrosini, with the goal gaping. There were no more clear-cut chances, and the referee brought time on an anti-climactic second half, as both teams prepare to do it all again in Barcelona next week.

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As expected, Spanish giants Barcelona cruised to a predictable, if somewhat unimpressive, win over Viktoria Plzen, recording a 2-0 score line over the Czech side, and strengthening their position in the battle with AC Milan for top spot in the group. The breakthrough came early for Barcelona, and was the result of excellent play from Argentinian superstar Lionel Messi.

The little maestro played a delicate ball into the box and to the feet of the waiting Andres Iniesta, who then calmly placed the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net, to the delight of the home crowd.

Despite enjoying near total domination over the visitors, Barca were unable to add their solitary goal in the first half, however the performances of players such as Messi, Iniesta and David Villa indicated that it was surely just a matter of time before they added to their lead after the interval.

Whilst Barca were enjoying a pass success rate of 93% and a total of 14 shots to Plzen’s 0, halfway through the second half, they were still unable to extend their lead over the visitors. Despite no change to the score line, home and visiting fans alike were treated to a show of exquisite football from Messi, with the player exhibiting his full range of tricks, nutmegs, and deft touches.

If Messi’s triumphant display wasn’t enough for Barca fans, Villa soon gave them something to cheer about with his side’s second goal of the game. Messi collected a neat through ball from Villa, and when tackled by the Plzen centre-back, the ball bobbled loose to the onrushing Villa who calmly stroked the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.

The home side came close to adding a third when Pedro broke into the box and instead of attempting a shot himself, passed the ball onto Villa, but the attacker did not have the pace to get to the ball in time, and the attack fizzled out.

Whilst many will be disappointed to not have seen Barcelona score more than their two goals tonight, the game was never in doubt, and Pep Guardiola will be happy enough with his team’s overall performance, if not with their ability to finish off chances.

The win does however keep them level with AC Milan at the top of the group, and sets up a match against the Italian side which will most likely decide the winner of the group.

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Tonight the Champions League Final saw the English and Spanish domestic trophy holders clash for the undisputed title of being the best team in Europe. Both teams entered the Final with 3 Champions League trophies to their name; to win this 4^th trophy would mean that they could take their place in history alongside the European legends of Liverpool,  Ajax, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

Manchester United had the majority of the possession in the first 15 minutes, white shirts hounded the Barcelona defence but their attacks came to nothing more than a few brief encounters in and around the box.

Finally Barcelona got up to operating temperature and Pedro sent the ball wide after some quick football from David Villa and Xavi – there was much more of that to come.

Two more shots came from David Villa which went even closer than Pedro’s effort and Manchester United must have been yearning to get back to the possession they had enjoyed during the early minutes – Barcelona were settling into their ominously predictable, unpredictable forays from midfield.

United were not going to be spared from the brilliance of Lionel Messi it seemed, his first real action was to make four United players look like statues as he dribbled the ball past them. Minutes after, he was denied a clear shot on goal only by a perfect tackle from Vidic.

At this point Sir Alex Ferguson had left his seat and joined Pep Guardiola on the touchline to try command his men back on course. Whatever he was ordering was not in time to stop Pedro scoring first. A pass from Villa, probably not the most dangerous of the night so far, found its way to Pedro who had plenty of time to slot the ball into an opening at the near post.

After half an hour Barcelona had completed 265 passes compared to a mere 100 from Manchester United, however Wayne Rooney was about to show that his team was not fazed by the Barcelona possession. Great link-up play between Ryan Giggs and Rooney led to a shot being fired from 16 yards out which sailed past Victor Valdes and into the net. It was back to level again and game on.

The goal did not mark the start of a United charge, Barcelona still threatened. Iniesta launched a shot from range which wasn’t far off, but an even closer chance was at the very end of the half when Villa supplied a pass across the goal mouth which Messi at full stretch narrowly missed connecting with.

The half time whistle blew dead on the 45 minute mark. It was a half that was relentlessly quick, neither side had sought to reduce the tempo of the game and I’m sure the break came as an unwelcome distraction to two teams who both looked incredibly focussed.

After the resumption of play there was clearly little change in either of the teams tactics, neither manager had made a substitution and Barcelona were back on the offensive with United trying to break their spells of possession.

It was at this point in the game that Barcelona looked most menacing. Their pressure was relentless and tiring for the Manchester United defence who could not anticipate what was coming from a team who did not use a striker but instead attacked from midfield.

Lionel Messi scored his 53^rd goal of the season in the 53^rd minute in spectacular fashion, firing a shot from 25 yards out and past Edwin Van Der Sar who, on a better day, would have saved it. It really was an excellent goal from Messi, a player who has made excellence a habit – his manager was jubilant but seemed unsurprised at his prodigy’s goal.

Messi was fouled for the 3^rd time by Antonio Valencia who seemed intent on keeping him on the floor, but in typical fashion, the most prolific scorer in La Liga returned to his feet without complaint and proceeded to terrorise the Manchester defence and midfield.

Dani Alves received a yellow card just before 60 minutes for tripping Patrice Evra and soon after Micheal Carrick was booked for a very late tackle on Andres Iniesta. Overall, it was to be a very good performance from the Hungarian referee Viktor Kassai.

Barcelona had Manchester United in the corner, their constant attacks and swift passing left the English Champions looking punch drunk. Dani Alves could have delivered the knockout blow at 64 minutes after a Barcelona attack had left the United defence dangerously exposed.

Sir Alex Ferguson tried change his fortunes by removing the flagging full back Fabio and replacing him with Nani. No substitution could have prevented Iniesta’s shot in the 66^th minute however, it was a 20 yard curling strike which looped into the top corner, Van Der Sar could have done nothing this time.

The trophy engraver had probably started carving FC Barcelona’s name into the massive Champions League cup at this point – Man United showed no sign of getting back into the game.

The remaining 20 minutes were a little more contested, Giggs threatened and Nani shot but their attacks were not carried out with the relentless conviction Barcelona had displayed throughout.

Puyol came on after 87 minutes, the captain had played no starting role in the final but it was only right that such a key figure in their Champions League campaign was on the pitch to savour the moment the final whistle blew.

When it did Sir Alex Ferguson looked dejected but you could see that he knew his team had been wholly outclassed on the night – he would have to wait another year to play Barcelona, who would almost certainly be in the final if they remain at this exemplary standard.

I don’t think anybody would have left Wembley tonight feeling short changed, a ticket to the final bought a seat to witness some beautiful football. It is hard to see how anyone can come close to Barcelona in the near future if they can dispatch Manchester United with such ease.

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