Source: Daily_Mail
Gary Neville: Champions League final is United's biggest match for 43 years
ShareThe Champions League final is, without doubt, the biggest match you could possibly play at club level. When I was preparing for the 1999 final against Bayern Munich, coincidentally in Barcelona, I remember the sheer sense of excitement.[LNB]I felt, having the opportunity to play in such a significant encounter. It was where I had always wanted to be as a player but, more importantly, where the club wanted to be after 31 years since our last final at Wembley in 1968.[LNB] Legend: George Best celebrates scoring Manchester United's second goal against Benfica at Wembley in 1968[LNB] Yet the occasion next Saturday is even bigger, given that the game is at Wembley. It is a ground that has been so important in Manchester United's history and, of course, in Barcelona's, with each club winning their first European Cup there.[LNB] There are two great clubs in the final. They have been the top two sides in Europe over the past few seasons, with United reaching the final three times in four years - a magnificent achievement - and Barcelona three times in six years. It makes for a very special event.[LNB] As a player, the preparation in the days running up to a game of this magnitude and in the dressing room before kick-off should be exactly the same as normal. The Manchester United way is to keep it very low key and not to try to build up a game too much before it happens.[LNB] And yet the mental preparation is very different, because you understand the size of the occasion and the scale of the match in which you are about to play.[LNB] You do try to keep the same routine, particularly as an experienced player, but you know it is not normal in terms of the size of the match, which brings added anxiety and nerves.[LNB] To gain some perspective, I used to focus on the fact that it's only 90 minutes - or 120 minutes if there is extra-time - and then it will be over and we go home, the same as for every match. But when it is such a huge game and a great occasion with so much at stake, you want to do yourself justice.[LNB] Magic moment: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scores the winner against Bayern Munich in 1999[LNB]The Euphoria Manchester United 2 Bayern Munich 1 Wednesday, May 26, 1999, Nou Camp, Barcelona[LNB]Three minutes of injury-time to go, and we're still 1-0 down to Bayern Munich in 1999. You could not possibly think that you're going to win the match, not in normal time anyway. [LNB]Obviously, you never give up. That's the spirit of the club and the way it has been for the past 25 years. It comes from the boss, Sir Alex Ferguson. He never gives in and fights to the last second in every match. I thought if we could get a goal that at least would take it into extratime, and when Teddy Sheringham scored in the 91st minute, that's what we all thought we had done.[LNB] So when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored our winner in the 93rd minute, it just summed up that whole Treble season and the spirit within the club. So many times we had been close to losing important games and managed to turn it around in the last minutes.[LNB] That night, none of us slept. We went back to our hotel outside Barcelona and carried on right the way through to morning before getting back on the plane and returning to Manchester, where we had the most incredible experience parading the cup to all our fans. That night we ended up at the MEN Arena with 30,000 fans at another celebration. It was a 24-hour experience, an absolute joy.[LNB] It was extraordinarily similar for the club in 2008, when we won the trophy in Moscow in the penalty shoot-out against Chelsea. I was watching from the sidelines because I was injured and there was another incredible moment, when you think you're going to lose, as John Terry stepped up to take a penalty to win it for them.[LNB] He missed and then Anderson and Ryan Giggs scored with Edwin van der Sar saving from Nicolas Anelka.[LNB]In life and in football, if you hold out hope, something can sometimes happen for you. Again it was an incredible night of enjoyment, but I think this final could surpass that because it is at Wembley.[LNB] After a match like the Chelsea final you are aware of what you have achieved but the high doesn't really last long - maybe about a week.[LNB] Then you go on holiday and already you start to think about what's coming next. Ultimately you have a few days or a week to revel in the glory but very quickly you are back on the bike - in pre-season training - to do the same thing again and win more trophies.[LNB] Success is only a moment in time. You cannot keep it in your head for too long because life is a journey.[LNB] You can't just stop because of one moment of success or failure and that's a maxim that has been drilled into us at Manchester United.[LNB] Little master: Barcelona's Lionel Messi scores against Manchester United in 2009[LNB]The agony Manchester United 0 Barcelona 2 Wednesday, May 27, 2009, Stadio Olimpico, Rome[LNB]Failu re is the same as success; you don't keep it in for too long. Desperately disappointed as we all were to lose against Barcelona in Rome, 2009, it was a defeat from which we could learn. That's the thing about failure: success sometimes goes by and in the euphoria you don't think about how it happened; with failure you do look at it and analyse it.[LNB] The manager has already said he knows where we went wrong in 2009 and the majority of the players who played then will be lining up against Barcelona again next Saturday.[LNB]Barcelona are a great side but in 2009 we gave away a goal after 10 minutes, which is something you wouldn't hope to do. A number of our players hadn't played for a few weeks before the final whereas this year, hopefully, the majority are fit and in form.[LNB] And there were clear mistakes that we made when we gave the goals away.[LNB] By contrast, the way in which we played against Barcelona in 2008, when we knocked them out 1-0 on aggregate over two legs in the semifinal, sets the standard for next weekend.[LNB] Looking back at the games from 2008 and 2009 there are good and bad lessons from both for our players, who were part of a success and a failure. With the disappointment of 2009 and the success of 2008, our players have experienced both sides of the coin and know what they have to do to win and what to avoid to prevent a defeat.[LNB] [LNB]The level of concentration the team showed against Barcelona in that 2008 semi-final was probably the highest I have ever seen from a United team and the greatest example of collective defending that I have experienced in my time at the club.[LNB] The lads who played for United in those games suffered for that win. They never left a one-two; they defended every single one-on-one; they got into shape when we lost possession to close down the space everywhere, all over the pitch, every second of the game.[LNB] Ultimately, that is the sort of performance level that will be required again. What we have to do more in this final than in 2009 is test them at the other end of the pitch.[LNB] In Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, Dimitar Berbatov, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, United have players who can be clinical in the opposition third. We have to make sure we get up there more often and create chances.[LNB] United: Gary and brother Phil with the European Cup[LNB] Manchester United's mentality has always been about offence, not defence - to attack and to hurt the opposition. That's what the team will be looking to do and will have to produce to win the match.[LNB] That said, we respect the fact that to win a European Cup final we have to show a high level of defence and repeat the organisation that we showed back in 2008. [LNB]What about Leo Messi? Well, he never came up against me in his career! Clearly, he's exceptional but I don't think you put one player on him. When we played them in 2008, Patrice Evra took care of him because Messi played on the right at that stage of his career.[LNB] In the last two years Messi has operated in more central spaces off the front players, meaning it will be the collective responsibility of the team to patrol him, rather than an individual. When he comes into your zone you have to deal with him, supported by the players around you.[LNB] Manchester United have their own world-class performers. Hernandez is a constant threat, playing off the shoulder of the defender. Rooney, Scholes, Giggs, Michael Carrick and Antonia Valenica are the players to feed him. Wayne will love this occasion. He revels in big matches and operates in those games better than anyone I've seen.[LNB] He'll be looking forward to playing in a more central role, where he has been coming into his best form. Javier and Wayne have been devastating recently. We've seen them against Schalke and Chelsea and those performances have set a benchmark.[LNB] That's the standard they have to achieve against Barcelona.[LNB] It's an exceptionally high level as the pair's performances are among the best I've seen at the club but they can certainly do it and win a fourth European Cup for United. Victory would put us right up there among the greatest clubs of the past 30 years. [LNB] Veteran Van der Sar admits he is dreading Old Trafford farewellFergie pleads with Scholes to play on and pen one-year deal at Old TraffordNow Fergie's beaten one Liverpool record can he do a Paisley?[LNB] [LNB] Explore more:People: Paul Scholes, Alex Ferguson, John Terry, Ryan Giggs, Teddy Sheringham, Edwin Van Der Sar, Michael Carrick, Leo Messi, Dimitar Berbatov, Patrice Evra, Nicolas Anelka Places: Barcelona, Moscow, Manchester, Rome, Europe
