Soccer: Ferguson sees years of Spanish rule

Even the previously jaunty carnation on Sir Alex Ferguson's lapel seemed to droop as the Manchester United manager stood on the pitch at the end on Sunday, hands in pockets, waiting for the moment when he and his team would be summoned for their losers' medals and then, finally, be free to get the hell out of there.

How to describe the United players on the Wembley turf after the final whistle? It was not the usual pose of defeated finalists, scattered exhausted around the pitch like battlefield survivors.

There were no histrionics and no demonstrations of anger or sorrow for the cameras. Instead they stood around, alone or in small groups, exuding a rare sense of embarrassment.

Manchester United players are not used to being humbled but that is exactly what happened on Sunday. Put simply, Barcelona all but refused United admission to their own final.

And that is how they looked at the end: like a sheepish bunch of teenage lads turfed out of their local nightclub and with nowhere to go but home.

To lose a final is bad enough. To lose it in such a one-sided fashion is even worse. But to contemplate the possibility that the same could happen next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, is enough to break the natural ebullience of even the likes of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand.

When United lost to Barcelona in 2009, they despaired at having missed the opportunity to win the club's fourth European Cup - and become the first team in Champions League history to win it in two consecutive seasons.

At the end of Sunday that fear was deeper, it was the fear that Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Pedro Rodriguez et al might have a stranglehold on this competition for years.

Because, whoever United sign this summer, Wesley Sneijder, Ashley Young, David De Gea or Alexis Sanchez - and however well United acquit themselves - the fear remains that lying in wait for them in May, or even earlier, will be Barcelona.

A team so far ahead of this United side that they threaten to overshadow the best of what Ferguson and this side of his have left in them.

The United manager said as much on Sunday when he forced himself to contemplate the future for Barcelona. "I think that great teams do go in cycles. And the cycle Barcelona are in at the moment is the best in Europe, no question about that. How long it lasts, whether they can replace that team at some point - they certainly have the philosophy.

"It's always difficult to find players like Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta and Messi all the time. Probably not [the chance that Barca could discover a new generation]. But they're enjoying the moment that they have just now."

It was said without bitterness and with a scarcely concealed envy of what Guardiola has at his disposal.

Goodness knows, Ferguson has achieved so much in establishing United as the pre-eminent team of English football, but you cannot help think that 18 years since he smashed through Liverpool's dominance in domestic football he has run into another, even more formidable, road-block to his ambitions.

It is his misfortune that his best years as a manager in Europe have coincided with the emergence of the best team in two decades, possibly ever.

Against a lesser Barcelona team, United might have won these two finals of 2009 and on Sunday and we would now be talking about them as Liverpool's equals with five European Cups and Ferguson out on his own with four, more than any other manager in history.

As it is they seem further away than ever.

This remains a tremendous season from United but there is nothing in second place for a club of United's stature.

"We have a challenge with Barcelona - we all do," Ferguson said.

"It's no consolation being the second-best team. I don't enjoy being second-best."

- INDEPENDENT