Destiny Calling

Ricky Hatton liked a scrap. He was the best around at taking on an opponent - pushing them backwards and bullying them into submission. He was revered across the world and nobody wanted to miss his fights - and then he ran into Floyd Mayweather Jnr and everything changed. Hatton was up against one of the greats and looked bewildered as Mayweather out-thought and danced around the over-enthusiatic Mancunian. It was a shame to see Hatton in such a position, a fantastic boxer brought to his knees on one night.

It wasn't his fault - he just couldn't cut it at that level. For that reason Hatton's image and career legacy stayed intact. He could hold his head up high and rightly so. After a mauling of the highest order on May 28th 2011, it was no surprise to see Alex Ferguson try to tap into that bittersweet sympathy.

Ferguson has been known for being the master of mind games - slightly over-exaggerated - but nevertheless he took the rise out of Rafa Benitez and Kevin Keegan and got away with it. When the Scot appeared at his weakest on Saturday night he simply held his hands up and played the sportsman. Beaten by the greatest team in Europe went the story - a few hours later he had everybody hailing FC Barcelona as the best team that had ever played the game. Few recalled how they were beaten on their last visit to London, frustrated by Jose Mourinho on more than one occasion and how they are pretty much the same group of players and style football that was pushed to the brink at the World Cup by Holland, Germany and Switzerland.

By Sunday morning Ferguson had turned the nightmare of Wembley into a tribute to Barca and their beautiful game. There cannot be any argument to the merits of Barcelona - but when Ferguson gleefully rampages past Blackpool and Wigan to win title he very rarely concedes the disparity between the sides. When one Wayne Rooney dared question the structure of Manchester United and their ability to compete with the best his answer was robust - 'how many trophies have I won again?'. In other words - it's all about me.

At Wembley, Ferguson seethed as the weakness of his tactics were exposed at every level. Ferguson could not get to the officials in this one, no Howard Webb to break the game up at every opportunity. When it was clear that Antonio Valencia had committed enough offences to have been shown three yellow cards by the hour mark there was no room for satisfaction. The faster the game flowed the worse it got for United.

Ferguson said that mistakes were made in Rome in 2009 - his chief Sky mouth-piece Gary Neville was quick to point out that it was not Ferguson who had made them. Instead it was the players not following his orders.

Manchester United have a simple philosophy: knock the opponent out in the first minute. It very often works. Schalke found it too much, as did a dispirited Chelsea. AS Roma spectacularly fell apart to the blood and thunder approach led by Alan Smith a few short years ago. When it came to re-examining games against Barcelona the answers were found in the way Brian Clough used to tell it - Ferguson had a conversation (most likely with himself) and decided he was right all along. It was probably that Ronaldo kid who caused the issues!

And so United went for Barcelona in the only way that they know how. Attack Javier Mascherano. The weakest part of Barcelona's side that clearly nobody knew about - or perhaps the exact part of the side that Pep Guardiola spent weeks in planning to counter his lack of height and positional play.

Gerard Pique (the player Johnny Evans was meant to be) simply covered around the back, took charge of the high balls and led a tight line to trap the immature Javier Hernandez.

It was a poor show from Ferguson. So contrite in defeat, he had headed into this game showing a lack of respect for the Argentine international and one of the brightest coaches in the game.

The idea of playing Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick in a centre of midfield took a lot of guts. The idea that they could keep the ball and lower the percentage of Barca's ball rentention may have offered some light in this particularly dark tunnel. Instead the itch that was Mascherano had to be scratched with a long ball tactic that made United's midfield duo redundant.

Ji-Sung Park was put in to help the close down the Catalan's creativity at full-back - instead he ran inside to help the cumbersome Carrick and left Daniel Alves the freedom of the pitch. A nonsense with the player of the year Nani on the bench. Sergio Busquets found his own particular playground empty as Wayne Rooney was asked to support Hernandez but found himself dragged into the Giggs/Carrick vacuum.

It was United's and Ferguson's obsession with the spirit of '68 that perhaps gave the clue before the game that the writing was on the wall. This Manchester United has made good on its promises by being a defensive rock. It has held firm in the face of a lot of pressure and played the kind of games in Europe that the aforementioned Special One would be proud. The next chapter in the much heralded book of how Ferguson has evolved with football may have been ready to have been written.

Instead the emotions gave way. Best, Charlton, Law, Sir Matt, Wembley - it rolled around the media all week and this was apparently destiny calling.

'Play the way Manchester United play' was the mantra in the build-up. Yet, the way Manchester United 2011 play has nothing to do with the legends of yesteryear. This was a game that would have been best left to a patient approach.

To play on the underdog tag before the game instead of being drawn into a battle with history was the smart way of playing it. But that is Ferguson. Always ready to ram his greatness down the throats all who stand in his way. He wanted to tear down Kenny Dalglish's ever increasing reputation earlier in the year and make Anfield weep. It didn't.

Alex Ferguson liked a scrap. He was the best around at taking on an opponent - pushing them backwards and bullying them into submission. He was revered across the world and nobody wanted to miss the games - and then he ran into FC Barcelona and everything changed. It was a shame to see Ferguson in such a position, a fantastic manager brought to his knees on one night.