Lionel Messi – he’s rubbish in the air, isn’t he?
There were probably many who believed this prior to Manchester United‘s Champions League final defeat to Barcelona in 2009.
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Messi’s header in Rome made it 2-0 to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final
But Messi silenced his doubters when he rose to head in his side’s second goal of the night in a 2-0 win and stopping United from becoming the first side to win back-to-back European Cups in the Champions League era.
In 2017, the Barcelona forward even claimed it was one of his favourites and why wouldn’t it be? It came against a team boasting Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand in defence and Edwin van der Sar in goal.
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“It was hard to imagine that I was going to score with my head with Ferdinand standing near me, but I didn’t really have a marker,†he told FourFourTwo.
“It was such an important goal in every sense: for the team, for the way the final was turning in our favour and for me, too. It’s still one of  my favourite goals,†he said.
In Pep Guardiola’s first season in charge, the 2-0 victory sealed a first treble for Barcelona as they won LaLiga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League.
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“It completed a great season when we won everything,†Messi added.
Ferdinand, though, has called the loss the most embarrassing night of his life, while also acknowledging Messi is the best he ever faced.
“We all felt that if we played against that Barcelona team without Messi, we probably would have won,” he told BT Sport.
United face an equally impressive Barcelona team this season, as they aim to reach the Champions League semi-finals.
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Lionel Messi has scored eight Champions League goals in six games this season
Marcus Rashford missed out on United’s Premier League defeat to Wolves due to injury, but he was back on Tuesday morning as the players trained ahead of the first leg at Old Trafford.
Alexis Sanchez, who has been sidelined since injuring his knee at the start of March, was also training with the first team.
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