Before they emerged from their dressing room, supervisor Pep Guardiola played the Barcelona crew a specifically commissioned seven-minute film displaying their greatest moments from the season interspersed with clips from the movie Gladiator. Then again, following John O'Shea's profitable purpose in Manchester United's semi-last first leg victory over Arsenal, United supervisor Alex Ferguson recommended that the Irish utility player would be guaranteed a place within the starting line-up were United to succeed in the ultimate. Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola came out in help of overturning all three players' suspensions. The film culminated with the late Luciano Pavarotti's version of Nessun Dorma, and it left a number of of the gamers in tears. At the end result of the routine, the gamers emerged from the tunnel, accompanied by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli singing Il Gladiatore - a song based mostly on Earth from the soundtrack to the movie Gladiator - earlier than Bocelli sang supporting vocals to the UEFA Champions League Anthem. Together with his gamers motivated for the game, Guardiola mentioned nothing as they emerged into the tunnel. Nevertheless, with just one minute left in the sport, United suffered a defensive lapse, allowing Mariano González to attain Porto's second away objective.

A 40-yard purpose from Ronaldo in the sixth minute put United into the lead, and though both sides pressed for one more objective, it proved to be the only one in all the sport, making Manchester United the primary English side to win in Porto. For the reason that Barcelona residence package clashed with each Manchester United's house and European away real madrid kits, the Crimson Devils wore their white domestic away kit for the first time in a European Cup closing. Asian to look in a European Cup ultimate. Each Henry and Iniesta returned to light coaching on 22 May, but they had not yet resumed training with the primary squad and remained doubts for the ultimate. The following month Smith returned to the ring for an additional four spherical contest at the London Olympia, his opponent was James Tucker and as soon as again 'Mundo' gained each spherical in a snug style. A trophy handover ceremony was held in Rome on 21 April 2009, at which Ole Gunnar Solskjær, representing Manchester United because the previous season's champions, returned the trophy to UEFA president Michel Platini. Platini then presented the trophy to Gianni Alemanno, the Mayor of Rome, that it is perhaps placed on show in and around the city until the day of the final.

Cristiano Ronaldo then slotted his penalty residence, previous Heurelho Gomes earlier than David Bentley sent his penalty large of the aim. Nemanja Vidić tried to shepherd the Cameroonian striker towards the goal line, but Eto'o simply stepped inside him and toe-poked the ball previous Van der Sar to make it 1-zero to Barcelona inside 10 minutes. Following the collision, the train was diverted onto the Tees Valley line, where it was delivered to a halt by the operation of the communication cord in one of many carriages. Jarrod Bowen doubled their lead earlier than Viborg's Jakob Bonde pulled one back for the Danish membership. In 2002, these tactics saw Benítez lead Valencia to their first La Liga title in 31 years, successful it by a seven-point margin over second-positioned Deportivo La Coruña. Though Arsenal solely wanted to overturn a one-goal deficit, their chances of victory were drastically reduced within the first eleven minutes of the match; Park Ji-sung took benefit of a slip by Kieran Gibbs to double United's aggregate lead within the eighth minute, before Ronaldo fired dwelling a 41-yard free kick in the 11th minute. Despite United's early pressure, it was Barcelona who scored the first objective of the match.

Manchester United's starting right-winger from the 2008 last, Owen Hargreaves, missed the match as he was still in rehabilitation after a double knee operation to cure his tendinitis problems that had seen him play little part within the 2008-09 Champions League campaign. The venue offered ticketless fans with the chance to observe the match on an enormous screen, and kept them away from the streets of Rome's metropolis centre, though the alcohol ban that got here into impact in the town at 17:00 (Central European Summer season Time) on 26 May was still in pressure. Tasked with defending the nation’s skies and supporting floor troops, the Air Power relies on probably the most technologically superior navy aircraft in the world. For example, a winger can be more likely to cross the ball into the box when he has a waiting teammate with aerial capacity, whereas he may search for help and play the ball alongside the ground if that teammate is less of an aerial threat. Platform 4a: This is a southern extension of platform 4 catering for trains ready at Darlington such that they are often bypassed by trains stopping at platform 4. It is the only platform that isn't below the station roof.