Sports: UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona Champions of Europe

It was a grandstand finish. Considering what had taken place midway through the first half, it was still a great final. Arsenal went off a good start when Henry forced a good save out of Victor Valdes. The Barcelona goalkeeper was quick to rush out and block the Arsenal talisman's shot.
Then came the big twist. Ronaldinho squared a perfectly timed through ball to Barcelona's top scorer this season, Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon. Jens Lehman came off his line but the Cameroonian hitman was too lighting quick for him. As a result, he fell Eto'o with his outstreched hands. The ball was rolling forward towards Giuly who shot into an empty goal. At this moment, everyine was thinking the referee had allowed the advantage and let the play to continue. WRONG! He instead blew the whistle for a freekick, show Lehman a red card and the goal didn't stand. I am sure every fan was against this decision by the Norwegian official. My personal opinion is that the Norwegian official has made a bad decision (a mistake) by disallowing the goal and making Arsenal playing with a man less for the rest of the game. Barcelona, in fact, wanted the advantage play and the goal. Ronaldinho fired a little wide from the ensuing freekick.



Eboue, an emerging rightback for Arsenal, overlapped down the flank and dived for a free kick just outside the penalty box. This was clearly Arsenal's chance. With a man down, they know deep down inside themselves that their only chance to score would gonna come from setpieces like this. And Boom! Arsenal scored. Sol Campbell rose high and tall to power a header past Valdes who was rooted on the ground. Henry's delivery was perfect and Arsenal took the lead and turned the heat on Ronaldinho and his comrades. In injury time, Eto'o shot's was deflected onto the righthand post by Arsenal's Spanish substitute goalkeeper Almunia. A crucial, crucial save

The first half ended Barcelona 0 , Arsenal 1.

The second half began with Barcelona attacking with all they have to find the equaliser they desperately needed to tie the match. As the match was progressing with all the Barcelona attacks and occasional counter attacks by Arsenal, there were constantly discussions and exchange of words between Arsenal's manager Arsene Wenger and Arsenal's captain, Thierry Henry. It seemed that Henry was talking to Wenger about the lack of support that he's getting from the midfielders and wanted Wenger to bring Reyes on to add some speed and maybe kill off the game with another goal. Wenger didn't bring on Reyes until the 85th minute, yes, with only 5 minutes in the game left. By then, the match had turned into Barcelona's favor and almost everyone knows it's over for Arsenal. Eto'o had equalised with a near post shot and Brazilian substitute Belleti had fired in between Almunia's legs to seal Arsenal's fate. Both goals were setup by Henrik Larsson, another substitute brought on by Frank Rijkaard. Rijkaard brought on Iniesta for the 2nd half. Then Larsson. Then Belleti.



The deciding goal was scored after Wenger made his 2nd substitution, bring on Flamini on place of Fabregas. Belleti scored the match winning goal with, guess who, Flamini guarding him. The 3rd substitution with barely 5 minutes left of Reyes replacing Hleb was left too late. It's like having the 2 of spades as your trump card in the BIG TWO card game but you have already lost the game.

Barcelona deservedly wins the 50th edition of the European Cup. They have proved to be among the best teams in Europe, anchored by Ronaldinho. Arsenal succumbed to fatigue towards the end of the game. Henry blasted the officials by saying "some of the refereeing today was horrendous." He also admitted that when he had a chance to put the game away for good when he failed to beat Valdes for the 2nd goal that he had nothing left in his legs. Wenger should know better that his team's going to get tired. And making substitutions too late into the game wasn't the smartest decision of all.

This result once again proves that Arsenal does NOT have what it takes to succeed in Europe. Nor does Chelsea, oh yeah you Chelsea fans out there, I'm not letting y'all off the hook. Last season, Chelsea lost to Liverpool in the semifinals. This season, they lost to Barcelona. Liverpool won the European Cup last season. And this season, Barcelona won it.



Barca! Barca! Barca!