© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday evening, spectators gathered at Wembley Stadium will witness a duel between two European giants for the most prestigious club trophy of the Old Continent.
Before the Champions League final match between Barcelona and Manchester United, the official website of the Catalan team traditionally presented interesting historical and statistical facts online.
- the Saturday match is the fourth time that these Spanish and English teams will test their strength against each other in the Champions League tournament. Barcelona and Manchester United faced each other in the group stages of the 1994-1995 and 1989-1999 seasons. In 2008, Sir Alex Ferguson's disciples eliminated Barça in the Champions League semi-final match. A year later, the Catalan club avenged the "Red Devils" and beat them in the tournament final in Rome 2-0.
- since the 1992-1993 season, when the Champions League was reorganized, Barcelona and Manchester United have an absolutely identical ratio of goals scored and conceded - both teams have scored a total of 303 goals against their opponents and conceded 158.
- Manchester United played 9 different matches in their country's Wembley Stadium. In five of them, the winner was determined by a penalty shootout.
- the last time Barcelona played at Wembley Stadium was in the group stage of the 1999-2000 Champions League season. However, back then it was the old Wembley arena, where the Catalan club won their first Champions League trophy. In that 1999-2000 season match, the Catalan club beat London's Arsenal 4-2.
- in the newly built Wembley Stadium, Barcelona played two matches. These were friendly matches against Tottenham Hotspur and Al Ahly.
- in this year's Champions League tournament, Barcelona demonstrates the best offense. Under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, they have scored 27 goals. Manchester United, meanwhile, has the most solid defense - the ball only entered their net 4 times.
- Manchester United had the most corner kicks towards the opponent's goal - 76 times.
- after the Champions League final, Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will end his professional football career.
- Lionel Messi is aiming to become the Champions League tournament's top scorer for the third consecutive year. Currently, the Argentine has scored 11 goals. Only Gerd Müller and Jean-Pierre Papin have previously achieved such a feat. L. Messi also has the chance to surpass Ruud van Nistelrooy's record - the Dutchman scored 12 goals in the 2002-2003 season, so the Argentine striker needs two more goals in the final.
- in this season's Champions League tournament, L. Messi has more shots on target than any other player - 31 times. Barcelona's leader has also been fouled the most times by opponents - 30.
