Barcelona v Manchester United – don’t believe the hype

The perfect final, a clash of the two best teams in the world, a classic in waiting. These are just some of the ways in which Saturday’s Champions League final has been described.

On paper, the final at Wembley does look rather good. We have a Barcelona team that some are calling the greatest club team of all time up against a Manchester United side that have just conquered The Most Competitive League In The World ™. And it’ll all be played out underneath the arch of Wembley Stadium, the ‘home’ of football. Plus, it’s the European Cup final. We should be excited.

But can this game really live up to the hype? It’s been billed as some sort of gladiatorial battle, taking place upon spiritual earth on which a victor will beat a worthy adversary before walking off into eternal glory (watch the Nike video below if you don’t believe me). No game can deliver that.

This is just the latest in a constant stream of games to get the hype treatment, at least in the case of Saturday, it is genuinely worthy of much attention. Take the FA Cup final, which since returning to Wembley has regained some of it’s ’season showpiece’ status. Yet despite all the hype, four of the five games since the return to north London have ended 1-0. Not exactly enthralling. Recently we had the El Clasico marathon, four Real Madrid v Barcelona games in the space of a couple of weeks. All four of them were a let down (thank you Jose Mourinho). And how about the World Cup – the greatest show on earth. The excitement of the World Cup kicks in a year before it gets underway but South Africa 2010 had few highlights and 2006 had even less.

As much as anyone, I’ll be hoping Saturday can live up to the hype, I really do. But if in need of a few more assurances of entertainment, I recommend the game at Wembley two days later. The Championship play-off between Swansea and Reading may not be the perfect final, or a clash of the two best teams in the world. But history tells us it has a far greater chance of being a classic.

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• http://www.facebook.com/people/David-bn-Tiseo/502699125 David بن Tiseo

  What does 1-0 have to do with anything? I agree that most show pieces are let downs (and I think this Final will be too), but to judge entertainment on the number of goals is a bit silly.