Manchester United and Barcelona will go head-to-head in the Champions League final on May 28 to determine who are the Kings of Europe.
The Wembley Stadium encounter will feature some of world football’s biggest names with the likes of Lionel Messi, David Villa and Wayne Rooney in action.
But this is not the first time these two teams have met in the final of a European competition.
So with this mouth-watering encounter just weeks away, Bettingpro is taking a look back at some past encounters between these two giants of European football.
Manchester United 2 Barcelona 1
European Cup Winners’ Cup final
May 15, 1991
United, who reached the final with an unbeaten record, finally broke the deadlock on 67 minutes when Bryan Robson’s free-kick was met by the head of Steve Bruce, and former Barcelona forward Mark Hughes applied the finishing touch.
The Red Devils doubled their advantage seven minutes later when Hughes beat the offside trap and knocked the ball past an on-rushing Carles Busquets. It looked as though the striker had taken the ball too wide but, from the right-hand side of the area, he produced a smart finish from a tight angle.
Ronald Koeman gave Barcelona hope with a trademark free-kick 11 minutes from time, but it was United’s night in Rotterdam.
Barcelona 2 Manchester United 0
Champions League final
May 27, 2009
Barcelona produced a masterclass in Rome to end Manchester United’s dream of becoming the first team to successfully defend the Champions League crown.
Barca went ahead on 10 minutes when Andres Iniesta fed Samuel Eto’o on the right-hand side of the area and the Cameroon ace cut inside Nemanja Vidic before firing beyond Edwin van der Sar.
Xavi’s curling free-kick struck an upright as Barca went close to a second, but they did double their advantage 20 minutes from time through Messi.
The match had been billed as a showdown of the world’s best two players in Messi and Ronaldo, but the Argentina star overshadowed his Portuguese counterpart and wrapped up the trophy for Barcelona when he headed home a Xavi cross.