Evra wants to face Barca again

Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra wants to chance to tackle Barcelona again in next season's Champions League final.

After suffering their second defeat on such an occasion in three years at Wembley on Saturday, the Red Devils could be forgiven for wanting to avoid the Catalans for a little while.

As Barcelona's average age is younger than their own, United might wonder if it is possible for them ever to get the better of Lionel Messi and company, who destroyed them with an awesome passing display.

However, rather than be fearful, Evra is already steeling himself for the challenge of a rematch in Munich 12 months from now.

"Manchester United never die," he told MUTV.

"We are not afraid. I want to come back to the final and play against Barcelona again.

"Manchester United had a good season. Not a great season because we didn't win on Saturday night.

"But we have still won the league and we are going to win the league again next year, and make sure we win the Champions League as well."

United's players will have to shrug off their disappointment pretty swiftly as it is estimated 150,000 supporters will turn out for their trophy parade on Monday morning, when their 19th Premier League title will be celebrated.

Whether record signing Dimitar Berbatov is going to be there remains to be seen.

Berbatov was in the defeated United dressing room after Saturday evening's defeat despite reports to the contrary.

However, this most thoughtful of individuals must now be wondering what the future holds after discovering a share of the Golden Boot does not even get a place on the bench in a United squad that ended up being outplayed yet again.

Berbatov's replacement, Michael Owen, is amongst those who could be saying goodbye as his two-year contract is at an end, while a decision is still awaited from Paul Scholes over his plans for next season.

There will be no turning back for Edwin van der Sar, though, whose stellar career is finally at an end, the 40-year-old set to take some time off and delay completion of his coaching badges.

"I have done some coaching badges in England and have put myself forward to do that in Holland as well but I am not sure if I am going to finish them," he said.

"Maybe it is too soon. I want to take a year out and do some nice things.

"I want to watch some games with friends in a normal situation on a Saturday, have a nice meal on a Saturday night, watch a game on Sunday, play golf and have some family time."

Source: Team Talk
Date Published: 31 May 2011

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Have your say on Evra wants to face Barca again in the United Online forum

Barca are just too good simple as that, we can still hold our heads high they did us proud getting so far we'll just have to settle for being the second best team in Europe.

- Munsterman

I don't think anyone had a particularly bad game. Park ran his legs off, Carrick made plenty of interceptions which against any other team would have broken up their move and we would have cleared the ball. Barca somehow seemed to always have someone pop up and win the second ball, and made us look a lot worse than we actually were. At least we scored this time!

- fenwar

Theyre phenomenal. The recriminations are pointless. We're a very good side, probably the second best in the world, but Barcelona are one of the best teams ever and certainly the best in the last 20 years. Theres no shame in losing to them. The only chance we had was to stick 10 men behind the ball and defend for a 0-0 or a lucky 1-0 win. It almost certainly wouldnt have worked and i'm glad we stuck to our traditions and tried to take them on playing our own game. Gutted, but we have to regroup and come again. Our players deserve credit for a great season.

- twoc2002

We can have no complaints. We were beaten by the better team. I tip my cap to them. They were magnificent. We'll keep the Red flag flying high!!

- Darren

We just came up against an awesome team, we just had no answer to them, well done Barcelona, deserving champions as much as it hurts to say that.

- Hamzah

Half time and a great goal from Rooney. We will have to conceded that they will have the ball a lot, but keep them wide and their bigger player might keep off the ball.

- Cookster68

Rio is going to track Messi, so when Messi drops Rio will push up. This is aimed at giving us an extra man in midfield and not getting swamped as we did in 2009 where we just could not get the ball.

- Oli

Barcelona are definitely favourites but so were we in 2009 and we know what happened then. I think the players will still be hurt from what happened that night and despite them saying that revenge isn't in their minds they'll certainly be looking to prove a point and avoid that feeling again. I'd go with the following starting eleven. - - - - - - Van Der Sar - - - - - - - - Rafael - Vidic - Ferdinand - Evra - - Valencia - Carrick - Giggs - Park - - - - - Hernandez - Rooney - - - - We might possible leave Hernandez on the bench and bring someone else into midfield but I think we'd be making the same mistake as we did in 2009. Then the problem was playing Ronaldo up top on his own who kept dropping deeper to get the ball leaving nothing up front. I fear that Rooney would do the same thing and we'd struggle to get out. However, with Hernandez up front it would give Rooney the freedom to drop deeper and put Busquets under pressure when we don't have the ball, which would leave Carrick and Giggs to get tight to Xavi and Iniesta. If we can keep the midfield tight and force the ball wide then I think we have more quality there both defending and going forward so hopefully that's where the game will be won.

- Dave

For all the glorious football they play, many people forget that they've ridden their fair share of luck in terms of a few crucial refereeing decisions in getting to the finals of the Champions' League in the past few years (Chelsea in 2009, possibly Arsenal and Real Madrid this year). So take away that 'luck', add the fact that Arsenal beat them 2-1 and, while we'd still be underdogs, I'd say we have a reasonable chance if we play up to our level!

- Abner

I heard Smalling talking today about trying to keep a high line and push Barca back. Its an option, and like in 2009 and we could create a few chances and hopefully nick an early goal, but its a risky tactic. Madrid tried something similar in the league game against Barca and lost 5-0. I'd much rather we use a variation of the tactic that has proved successful against Arsenal. Soak up the pressure and attack at pace.

- twoc2002