There's little doubt that Barca are a class act, and on the day they were far superior to Man U with better pace and a better understanding of how to dictate the game. All of the energy that the Man U team put into the game, and there was plenty of that, was largely wasted chasing the shadows left by a malfunctioning midfield which failed to breakdown the build up of waves and waves of Barca's forward forays and were seemingly incapable of providing amunition to their forward players in counter attacks.

Much has been made of how inferior Man U are, but if that's the case it's a sad indightment of how bad the English game, and that's simply not true. All those who would down Man U in support of their own frail sides, should look at how badly they did in competing against a side that won the Premiership because they worked harder and fought harder than any of their fellow contenders. Of course that's simply not good enough against such an extraordinary team as Barca have now. The difference for Man U as opposed to other Premiership contenders is that they are only about 3 players short of the world class squad they require to not only dominate the English game for a few more seasons, but also to compete on an equal footing with only a couple of other teams capable of taking the mantle from Barca.